Drilling services giant Baker Hughes recently published its international counts of active drill rigs. At 36, the Colombian count has not been this low since May 2010.
Incidents near areas of interest to the oil and gas industry were back up to 32 consistent with the recent experience but slightly below the long-term average. However, non-Armed Forces incidents were well above average at 12 or 38%. This is our indicator of increased guerrilla-initiated activity. Despite the rise, our 4-week Moving Average incident count was essentially stable at 29.5 but the 52 week average dropped to was stable at 34.7 incidents per week.
This week the report from the peace talks was mostly smiles and mutual backslapping with both the Farc and former senator Piedad Cordoba praising the results achieved to date.
In the last week three successive attacks week have shut down the Caño Limon-Coveñas painting a complicated picture for transport infrastructure in areas where the ELN and Farc operate, and have also stopped Colombian gas exports to Venezuela along a separate pipeline.
As attacks against infrastructure rise, former Senator Piedad Cordoba called for a collective cease fire until Christmas and expressed support for President Juan Manuel Santos, and the Farc acknowledge advances at the negotiating table.
As part of a new strategy to increase consumption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) has announced a subsidy pilot program in low income communities.
Following a high level cabinet meeting with Ecopetrol lawyers, the government says that the recent Constitutional Court ruling only affects how it finances the Price Stabilization Fund, not the ability of the executive branch to fix fuel prices at the pump.
Casanare’s local paper published a succinct editorial offering a word of caution for residents and a warning for politicians: The boon days of oil royalties are gone so you had better be careful how the money is spent.
The recently appointed director of the National Planning Department (DNP) Tatyana Orozco defended the General Royalty System against recent criticism, saying that they are responsible for “works materializing in all of the regions”.
Promoting dialogue, attending to the community’s concerns and helping to resolve problems which affect residents is part of Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) mission says its VP of HSE and sustainable operations, Óscar Villadiego. If only it was that easy.
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