News and AnalysIs for

Security and Public OrderIncidents near areas of interest to the oil and gas industry back up to the recent peak of 47 above recent and long-term averages.

That is what a partner in the petroleum practice of a major investment fund told the recent Oil Council Latin American assembly in Bogotá. (So-called Chatham House Rules prevent us from identifying either the individual or his company.)

To view or download the pdf form of our late 2013 Quick Pulse Survey.

We start this month with a long and important essay by Luis Ernesto Mejía Castro, HCC contributor and ex-MinMinas, on the current anxieties of the industry in Colombia.

This week the United Nations held its second regional summit of Latin American leaders in Havana, Cuba and the peace talks in Colombia were a recurrent theme, while back in Colombia some question whether a fissure in the Farc’s organization is already taking place.

Following accusations that its contracting process of transportation firms is excluding local, small and medium sized companies Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has suspended the contract process for two months while it reviews the terms and conditions.

This Friday, January 31 Pacific Rubiales (TSX:PRE) and Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) will meet to review the future of the production contract on the Rubiales field, which is set to expire in May 2016 and has been a lightning rod for political grandstanding in the last few months.

The National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) has issued a resolution that will alter the distribution of royalties so that oil producing receiving regions will receive a greater amount for royalties generated towards the end of the prior, direct payment system.

GasWe already published news of increased reserves for natural gas, which the Colombian Association of Natural Gas (Naturgas) says are now out to 15 years, but here are figures detailing the natural gas market in 2013 published by the association.

A Bloomberg article, press releases by Pacific Rubiales (TSX:PRE) and Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) and radio appearances by members of Colombia’s comptroller’s office took PRE on a rollercoaster. At one point on Monday it was down nearly 10% before recovering on somewhat on Tuesday and finishing Wednesday only a little more than 1% down.