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.
On the evening of December 19th, the Colombian Congress passed a comprehensive tax reform. It is intended to be revenue neutral – neither increase nor decrease government revenues – although this is always a theoretical calculation. The intention was to reduce inequality by lowering taxes on the middle class through raising the threshold below which individuals do not pay income tax. This was compensated by raising taxes rates above the threshold and by slightly higher corporate taxes (1% higher). However the hydrocarbons industry dodged several bullets aimed by at it by congressman Simon Gaviria.
According to a press release reported by national business newspaper Portafolio, Hidrospill is a Colombian company specialized in preventing oil accidents and related contingency actions. To enter the Central American and U.S.market it created a partnership with the American company IMO. In recent years Hidrospill has grown steadily at almost 130% annually and operates in Ecuador and Peru.
On the same day that the company announced buying 75% of Alvopetro S.A., a company with operations and tight oil opportunities in Brazil, Petrominerales made a wide ranging announcement of operations, finance and exploration plans for 2013.
2025, Hydrocarbons Colombia, All Rights Reserved.
