News and AnalysIs for

Earlier we reported that Maurel & Prom have come under fire for seismic testing in Boyacá. Residents claim that explosive charges damaged houses and ruptured water pipes, leaving residents of one municipality without water for five days. National radio network W Radio took up the residents’ cause and made the story a central part of its morning program, which enjoys the country’s highest audience rating. Today at the Colombia-Canada Chamber of Commerce’s Dialogue Canada event, National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) head Orlando Cabrales Segovia gave his point of view.

The following is a list of the 12 patents that Ecopetrol has obtained so far in 2012. Seven of these patents have been granted in Colombia, two in Russia and 3 in Mexico:

As reported by the website dinero.com, the number of visitors from Asian countries to Colombia increased significantly in 2012. Compared with the same period of 2011, the Finnish visitors increased 57%, 35.2% Chinese, Koreans 31% and Japanese 26.9% so far in 2012. This is because trade relations with these countries have considerably strengthened through the work of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism.

MILA (Integrated Latin American Market) is the alliance between the stock exchanges of Colombia, Peru and Chile. Of the 861 companies that are part of MILA (Integrated Latin American Market) Ecopetrol is the only Colombian company that reached the international standard for corporate transparency.

Chilean company GeoPark reported its 3Q12 operational results which highlighted the importance of the company’s acquisitions in Colombia this year. (It bought Winchester Oil & Gas in January and Hupecol in March.) This quarter these new Colombian assets produced more oil than did GeoPark’s principal assets in Chile. However, Chilean operations produced over 21,000 MCFPD which when translated into equivalent barrels of oil meant the home country still lead in boepd.

Just a few short weeks after filing its fiscal year-end results, Canacol reported its 3Q12 calendar (1Q13 fiscal) results and the story was not a happy one. Revenues were down and the company reported a net loss of US$6.2M, its worst since 2010. Revenues were down because production was affected by a number of community blockages. The shift from so-called “Tariff” to normal production (which the company labels NRI) in the Rancho Hermosa block also had an impact.

The big news was what appears to be a significant find at La Casona-1 in partnership with Petroamerica. The company reports “1,300 bopd of 36 degree API light oil and 4.0 million cubic feet per day (“MMCFD”) of natural gas” from the La Casona-1 well. Third quarter results were flat with respect to 2Q12 but significantly higher than the same quarter last year.

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.