News and AnalysIs for

In an El Heraldo opinion column, Aquiles Mercado argues that global energy security has moved to the center of IMF and World Bank discussions, with the Iran conflict standing as the top geopolitical risk to oil markets — a blocked Strait of Hormuz or disrupted production, he writes, could create a shortage larger than the pandemic’s and reignite inflationary pressure.

Venezuela sits on more than 300 billion barrels of proven crude reserves — surpassing Saudi Arabia’s roughly 270 billion — yet produces just 850,000 to 1.1 million bd, less than 1% of global output and far below its 1998 peak of 3.5 million bd, according to Álvaro Martínez de Bourio, BCG’s energy lead for Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Argentina.

Colombia’s natural gas production fell 12.9% year-on-year in May 2026, to 1,129 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) from 1,296 mmcfd in May 2025, with the decline attributed to Casanare, Sucre, Boyacá, and Córdoba.

Ecopetrol announced the successful completion of its Voluntary Public Tender Offer (OPAV) auction on Brazil’s B3 exchange, acquiring approximately 25% of Brava Energía’s share capital through its subsidiary Ecopetrol Investimentos Do Brasil LTDA.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council announced the selection of Diego Mesa Puyo, Colombia’s former Minister of Energy and Mines, as the fund family’s next CEO and Chairperson, for an initial four-year term aligned with the GEF-9 funding period.

Labor productivity across Latin America has stagnated for decades, widening the region’s gap with developed economies, according to a new Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report titled “Making Labor Markets Work: Improving Productivity and Worker Well-Being in Latin America and the Caribbean.”