News and AnalysIs for

A delegation from the port of the La Coruña visited Colombia to establish business relationships with large oil companies in the country and “implement at Punta Langosteira a new bulk liquid terminal that would be added to the Repsol and Pemex terminals.” According to a statement by the port, during the visit, the delegation met with executives of Ecopetrol, who “very explicitly showed interest in the potential of the outer port as a hub , specifically for its excellent location to host a processing and mixing terminal for crudes from Latin America and light crudes from northern Europe.”

National newsmagazine Dinero reports on its ‘rumors’ page that President Juan Manuel Santos is about to do a cabinet shuffle. The last such shuffle in September brought Federico Renjifo from MinInterior to MinMinas. Dinero reports that Renjifo is one of those rumored to be leaving at least his current post in the shuffle.

National weekly news magazine Semana published an article that analyzes whether the FARC may have surface to air missiles to shoot down aircrafts. Recent statements by U.S. General John Kelly put the issue on the table. In a speech before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, Kelly said that the FARC have surface-to-air missiles acquired with their income from the cocaine trafficking.

Ecopetrol has been pushing its good corporate citizenship with a series of press releases on its spending in 2012. Environmental investments, local purchasing and local hiring have all been touched. While this may seem like ‘tooting its own horn’, we believe such a campaign is necessary for the industry as a whole, because of the negative opinions held by the press and certain politicians. From an Ecopetrol press release, translated and with comments by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

Business magazine Dinero reported that lawyer Camilo Araque filed a demand at the Constitutional Court against article 101 of Law 1450 of 2011. Araque considers that this article, which decrees that the Ministry of Mines and Energy is in charge of setting the price of fuel, “displays an incontrovertible ignorance of the Constitution.”

As reported by national radio station W Radio, Alberto Mariño, manager of Coviandes, the company developing the Bogotá-Villavicencio four-lane road, referred to the project designs and required investment. According to Mariño, some US$550M for the land purchase, labor, materials and insurance policies will be allocated. He said the projected was “largely” on time according to the project plan.

We have been concerned for some time that the general labor relations situation was deteriorating in the country. The first strike in twenty years at coal producer Cerrejon for us was a wake-up call that the situation was widening beyond the usual suspects (Ecopetrol, Oxy and subcontractors). Now the USO will participate in the “First Mining and Energy Encounter” next month with the goal to coordinate labor action against multinational companies in the sector.

This was not a light week for security incidents – some of them more horrific than we have become accustomed to in the past six months. But these were in Cauca department where, apart from a few technical evaluation blocks in very specific areas, there is little going on in oil and gas. Our counts were nearly even with last week at 33.

Statistical snapshots can be misleading – those with only one rig active might have just released several or have several ready to be activated in March – but the big numbers are probably stable. It is no surprise that Ecopetrol should be the largest but perhaps surprising that Pacific Rubiales should be so close. It is perhaps surprising that Gran Tierra has so few or that Canacol is not on the list (it is the operator for five exploration blocks and three production blocks). For those surprised to see coal operator Drummond on the list, it has permits for Coal Bed Methane exploration.

The government and the Farc were supposed to resume their discussions in Havana on Tuesday but the meetings were put off until the third week of April. The Farc were thus unconstrained by the need to stick to the agreed agenda and so issued a disturbing joint statement with their sometimes allies / sometimes enemies the ELN. The government team urged everyone to calm down about Farc statements made outside the negotiating table.