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Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia, proposed to approve projects financed with royalties through fast track. He said thisat the Mayors’ Summit in Valledupar and there are advances onthe initiative.

This week, national authorities reported successful operationsto fight Colombia’s illegal fuel market. Initiativesin the departments of Norte de Santander, Bolívar and Huila, led to de confiscation of more than 26,000 gallons of stolen fuel. The development of these and other stories in our periodic Security Summary.

Popular referendums have grown exponentially in recent years in Colombia. Several municipalities plan to hold consultations to ban mining or oil activities in their territories.

Vasconia is perhaps Colombia’s most ‘emblematic’ crude oil blend and last quarter the discount fell again, reducing the gap to Brent.

After 10 days of strikes and blockades, and almost three days of negotiations, the communities of ‘El Centro’ and Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) signed the agreement that allows the reactivation of activities at La Cira-Infantas field.

Even though Equión and Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) showed their commitment to their areas of influence by developing social development programs, social protests against Pacific Rubiales (TSX: PEN) took place in Yopal, and protests to demand the modernization of Barrancabermeja’s Refinery are still going in that municipality. These and other Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) stories in our periodic summary.

In our second look at Argentina’s oil and gas industry, we examine how a dependency on natural gas has led to a fiscal crisis, and how the potential for shale resources could alleviate this problem and make the country and exporter of hydrocarbons once again.

This week’s article on the Argentine oil and gas industry is devoted to unconventional resources, which, in Argentina’s case mostly means gas.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) took part in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) conference in Oslo (Norway).

The popular consultation that will determine whether citizens of Cumaral (Meta) approve oil activities in their territory or not, will take place on July 4^th. Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) president went to the municipality to defend the NOC’s position on the matter.