News and AnalysIs for

The Commission of Experts gave a ‘definitive maybe’ to the development of fracking in Colombia, and the media started to speculate on the matter. Here is what the main national newspapers said.

Gran Tierra Energy (TSX: GTE) started to develop El Portón project, which has generated much controversy. However, the company proactively spoke to the local press about a new well.

The Minister of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) spoke about the benefits that communities in Barrancabermeja and Sucre will receive thanks to royalties’ resources. These and other stories in our periodic Royalties summary.

As we published last week, the MinMinas think-tank and research bureau, UPME, published a long document on energy prices just before Christmas. We have picked a few charts we think are interesting.

Last week we wrote a very high-level summary of the Commission of Expert’s recommendations on fracking. This week we go one level deeper and look at the recommendations in detail. Next week will publish our summary of the commission’s findings and conclusions.

The long-awaited report of the commission of experts was presented to the public Thursday afternoon. We attended. The study concluded there was much opportunity but much uncertainty so the country should run a pilot. Which is what Ecopetrol had proposed last year.

Global warming has generated many debates and the need to reduce the participation of coal in the energy matrix has been one of the main discussion topics. Colombian authorities created a carbon tax, joining the global trend. Orlando Cabrales, President of Naturgas, spoke on this topic and gave some suggestions to change it.

Mechanisms of citizen participation such as popular referendums have been one of the main discussion topics in Colombia, as these has affected extractive sector development. The Constitutional Court ruled on this issue.

The National Institute of Roads (Invías) and the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) are studying the option of leveraging the Works for Taxes initiative and develop projects in Casanare. These and other Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) stories in our periodic summary.

With better weather in Bogotá – it is not raining too much – it seems clear that we are heading into another El Niño weather phenomenon. That means drought and less hydroelectric generating capacity, which, in turn, should mean more demand for natural gas.