The facts are that in the region of Boyaca where Maurel & Prom Colombia is conducting 3D seismic on November 5, 2012 there was the sound of explosives, the earth shook and water pipes broke in some of the affected areas. Water was out for up to five days in some municipalities. The municipalities accuse Maurel & Prom and their subcontractor Compañía Geofísica Latinoamericana (CGL) of being responsible. The subcontractor denies responsibility. Extracted and translated from thestatement published by a citizens’ action committeeand with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.
The Colombian press reports that President Juan Manuel Santos has announced a CoP $900B (US$496M) investment in a sector of the route Bogotá – Villavicencio. The investment will be carried out to improve traffic flow on this route. Work on this stretch will begin in 2013. Another CoP$800B will be invested on a route linking the municipalities of Cáqueza and La Calera with Bogotá.
For the past several months, we have been publishing the Friday closing prices for WTI and Brent. Nothing radical there but we have also been making qualitative and quantitative comments about Colombian oil prices.
Congress approved the presentation of a project (004, 2012) which intends that the oil and gas sector pay the industry and commerce tax (ICA). The industry is currently exempt from this municipal tax because royalties are presumed to fulfill the same role.
RCN reports a scandal over modifications at the wastewater treatment plant of Yopal (Casanare). The work has been the responsibility of the consortium Inisa since August 5, 2011, when the consortium signed a CoP$7.711B (US$4.25M) contract in which it committed to deliver results ten months later.
In a press release, Sintana Energy announces a farm-out arrangement with ExxonMobile Exploration Colombia. The farm-out is for block VMM-37 in the Middle Magdalena Basin but only applies to unconventional plays on the block. For these ExxonMobile will earn a 70% interest on completion of the agreed work plan. Sintana retains 30% of an unconventional play and 100% of conventional production.
CyC Energia aka C&C Energy reported results for 3Q12. Production was up just under 9% but revenue was up over 1/3 because the company managed to reduce inventories by over 3,000 bpd.
Interoil reported its October 2012 production results for Colombia without commentary. Colombia’s oil production rose in September and October but Interoil’s share dropped. In fact, except for a brief blip in July, production has dropped continuously since March.
The USO is the Colombian petroleum workers union. Unrepentantly radically left, it often seems trapped in some Marxist-Leninist twilight zone from before the fall of the Berlin Wall or perhaps before the Second World War. Still its capacity for mischief is unmistakable and so we believe it is important for oil and gas industry stakeholders to keep track of what they up to. We will summarize major news items from their webpage or other sources and publish the summary every Monday. We will reproduce the tone of their items while not agreeing with their messages.
Incidents declined again for a fourth straight week but the decline was slight so maybe we have found a new equilibrium.