News and AnalysIs for

Ecopetrol – the state-owned oil company and the only company with significant R&D investment, receives five new patents. From an Ecopetrol press release, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

According to a Central Bank report, the the oil, mining and quarrying sector accounted for over half of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Colombia between January and September 2012. The commerce and hotels sector accounted for 9% while transport and communications accounted for 10% of FDI. The FDI for electricity, gas and water was 5% and 10% for manufacturing. Meanwhile, other sectors contributed 12% of the FDI.

For at least one day in 2012, the country achieved the goal of 1Mbd. From a MinMinas press release, translated and with comments

As a result of heavy rains, part of a pipeline near the village of Dosquebradas, collapsed, broke open causing a fire that killed several people and injured more. On about the one-year anniversary, Ecopetrol has issued a press release. Translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

Incidents were down sharply again this week likely because the Armed Forces turned their attention to protecting tourists on the highways and away from discovering and destroying guerilla infrastructure. Our 4-week Moving Average has dropped continuously since the week of October 20th, except for a small blip the week of December 1st. It now sits at 28 incidents per week down from a peak of 58 back in October.

Local news website NoticiasDeVillavicencio quotes Alan Jara, governor of Meta, saying that the process of building a refinery in Meta continues. To this end the government created the company Llanopetrol which is associated with the U.S. company, Structural Solution. The name of the refinery will be Llasol and, according Jara, the land for the construction is available, there is oil to be refined and the project has the support of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

The Colombian Ministry of Mines and Energy provided a year-end summary, highlighting some of the records achieved in 2012. From a MinMinas press release, selected, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

Incidents were up slightly this week but still well below current averages. We calculate a 4-week moving average to smooth out weekly variations and although that rose significantly in the run-up to the first round of peace talks, it dropped almost as rapidly to settle at about 40 incidents per week. With two straight weeks below 30 incidents, the moving average is now dropping and shows every indication (statistically) to continue to drop.

Our monthly Inner Circle report is now available for download (see below). This month we feature two interviews, one with ex-head of the National Hydrocarbons Agency, Armando Zamora and one with the leaders of Petrominerales’ Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives, María Mercedes Palacio and Larry Kozy.

If one were confronted with the simple question: “What is the price of a barrel of oil?” you would need to reply in turn with many other questions: “When?”, “Where?”, “A physical or a ‘paper’ barrel?”, “What quality?”, “To be sold/bought by whom?”, etc.