News and AnalysIs for

Bottom Line: The mythical target of 1Mbpd realistically has no particular benefit to investors. However the process of getting there is meaningful because the government is going to have to fix a number of things that are currently broken, principally pipeline security and environmentally permitting.

Bottom Line: A state-owned company looking mostly to work with other state-owned companies like Ecopetrol. Probably not much opportunity for private companies except at high political risk.

Bogota, July 18, 2012 Bottom Line: We do not normally track non-Colombian announcements but Ecopetrol is no ordinary Colombian oil and gas company. It’s CAPEX decisions have a huge impact on the country’s hydrocarbons industry.

Bottom Line: Cenit moves beyond being a press release to being a real company. The Board of Ecopetrol has authorized management to do the transactions but none of the assets has yet been transferred.

July 17, 2012 There are four oil companies in the Colombian stock market: state-owned Ecopetrol, Pacific Rubiales, Petrominerales and Canacol.

Bottom Line: Gas conversions are up as are gas connections overall. Until some of the LNG export plans come on line, local demand will drive producer revenues.

Bottom Line: Local demand for hydrocarbons and coal remain important especially for gas. MinMinas continues with the theme of child labor in traditional mining.

Bottom Line: One of the challenges with Colombian civil society is that extractive industries are viewed only from the negative side of the ledger, especially environmental damage and the impact on traditional ways of life.

Bottom Line: Antioquia is perhaps the only Colombian state with a professional mines secretariat and the state is fiercely protective of its autonomy. Here are calm words by MinMinas about working together.

Bottom Line: Colombia is characterized as being a heavy oil producer because that’s what over 56% of the production is. However most fields are light (121) and obviously over 44% of production is lighter than heavy.