News and AnalysIs for

Finance Minister (MinHacienda) Mauricio Cardenas spoke to the Morgan stanley Latin America Executive Conference in Miami, recapping the country’s macroeconomic progress over the past years. From a MinHacienda press release, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

Source: Campetrol, Hydrocarbons Colombia
This graph shows the latest data published by the Colombian Petroleum Services Association (Campetrol) from 2011 which is the last full year for which data is available from the Colombian company regulator SuperSociedades. These companies are registered in standard industry code (CIIU) C1120 which is defined as “SERVICE ACTIVITIES. RELATING TO OIL AND GAS EXTRACTION, EXCLUDING SURVEYING” Twenty-five firms or 16% of the companies studied comprise 80% of industry revenues. The Top 5 include industry heavyweights like Schlumberger, Haliburton, Weatherford and Baker Hughes. But there is a very long tail of 134 companies with average 2011 revenue of US$7.8M. (Twenty-eight firms have no data and so were excluded.) The bottom 50% of firms (80 companies) have average revenues of US$1M.

The Colombian Association of Natural Gas (Naturgas) is making a significant contribution to the government’s housing program. The plan is to build 100,000 low-income houses as part of broader program to increase home ownership. The companies will contribute just under US$12M, mostly through discounted infrastructure but also through a program to give away gas stoves. From a Naturgas press release, translated, extracted and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

National business magazine Dinero reports that the Colombian State Council, a superior court for government issues, declared today that Ecopetrol must pay CoP$1B (US$568,000) for damages from a propane gas pipeline attack in 1991. The attack occurred in the section between Puerto Salgar and Facatativá, in the rural area of the municipality of Albán in Cundinamarca. The explosion and resulting fire from escaped propane damaged agricultural facilities and crops in the surrounding area.

National newspaper El Espectador says that the National Environmental Licensing Agency (ANLA) will implement a so-called ‘express window’ to accelerate the licensing process. For a fee, companies will be able to get expedited processing although there will be no change in requirements. No date was given for the launch of the new process nor was there any indication of what the fee might be.

National business magazine Dinero reports that the Colombian State Council, a superior court for government issues, declared today that Ecopetrol must pay CoP$1B (US$568,000) for damages from a propane gas pipeline attack in 1991. The attack occurred in the section between Puerto Salgar and Facatativá, in the rural area of the municipality of Albán in Cundinamarca. The explosion and resulting fire from escaped propane damaged agricultural facilities and crops in the surrounding area.

According to DANE (as reported by national business newspaper La Republica), exports fell 8.2% in November 2012. Part of this decline was due to a 13% drop in exports of fuels and other extractive industry products, and the decline in the export of beverages, food and agricultural products.

The Territorial Development Finance company (Findeter) is an autonomous corporation reporting to Colombia’s Minister of Finance (MinHacienda). It can raise its own debt (which has a sovereign rating) and receives deposits from government agencies. It then lends this money to municipalities, departments (states) and other entities providing low-cost financing for infrastructure and development projects. The company recently announced its budget for next year. From a Findeter press release, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

The Government established a public-private partnership with the Carare Railroad Development Corporation (Corpocarare) and metallurgical coal producer Minas Paz del Río. The route runs through the Central Cordillera where non-conventional hydrocarbons blocks are defined and a few have been assigned.

Orlando Díaz Montoya, manager of Ecopetrol’s Barrancabermeja refinery, spoke to national business paper La República about the modernization project that is moving forward there. According to Diaz, in 2012 the project advanced 12.3% and is now being engineered to join new systems to existing ones. To start this phase requires the purchase of land, logging permits, permits for the connection to the national interconnected system, an Environmental Management Plan and a Port Concession.