News and AnalysIs for

The oil and mining industry has many challenges in the country and legal uncertainty is one of the major ones. Authorities want to improve it, and they are working to achieve it.

GasYesterday we discussed crude oil production based on the March 2017 MinMinas press release. This release also gives the gas ‘production’ figures and allows us to update this graph.

The National Army and the Fiscal and Customs Police (Polfa) announced positive results in their fight against fuel smuggling from Venezuela to Colombia. However, Ecopetrol´s (NYSE:EC) ‘La Lisama’ camp in Middle Magdalena was attacked once again. The development of these and other stories in our periodic Security Summary.

Eduardo Uribe, Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) vice president of Sustainable Development, gave details on the NOC’s projects within the post-conflict process.

The government is analyzing how to finance the post-conflict in Colombia and one option is to modify the General Royalty System (SGR). Local authorities spoke about the negative consequences this could bring.

The Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Luis Gilberto Murillo, presented the integrated land-use policy that provides tools for the proper management of this resource,including the conservation of biodiversity, water, air and risk management.

I do not know about you but the announcement of March production results depressed me. Even though we knew that March had to be a bad month, it depressed me because it added to a number of other indicators that suggested the Colombia industry was going through a bad period.

We know it is already 2Q17 but the ANH only just released detailed production results for 4Q16. This database allows us to go ‘beyond the topline’ and see detailed trends.

The USO said Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) management’s actions are a clear “declaration of war” on their movement, and that they leave the union no other option but to respond to them in an aggressive way. The Union called for a national strike to reject the NOC’s management ‘aggressive’ actions towards social leaders.

GasEcopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) Exploration Vice President, Max Torres, said that gas discoveries in offshore wells could help meet domestic demand, since a gas deficit is expected by 2021.