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Companies like Equion, Terpel, Gran Tierra Energy (TSX:GTE) and Geopark (NYSE: GPRK) announced some of their social investment projects in Colombia. The projects will benefit communities in the departments of Yopal, Casanare and Putumayo, among others. These and other Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) stories in our periodic summary.

For the first time, representatives of the Oil Workers Union (USO,) the Colombian Association of Petroleum Engineers (Acipet), the Technical Institute of Petroleum and Ecopetrol (NYSE: EC) met in the “Unconventional resources: challenges for Colombia” forum, that took place in Barrancabermeja.

Carlos Mantilla Mc Cormick, former President of the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) spoke about the lack of seismic information and its consequences in the next round.

Professor Freddy Humberto Escobar gave a talk at Javeriana University about the debate between oil and water.

The trend in security incidents near oil or gas infrastructure continued to slide in June 2017. The only recorded guerrilla-initiated events were either attributed to the ELN directly or took place in traditional ELN territory.

The union said that the forum organized by the Colombian Association of Petroleum Engineers (Acipet) hosted opens the door to a much needed dialogue regarding fracking.

Claudia González, director of the National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) spoke about fracking and delays in decisions for the industry.

The intention to carry out anti-oil and mining referendums continues to grow around Colombia. The industry has many concerns, and these grow with a move to carry out referendums to approve or deny offshore exploration.

Within June 7^th to July 7^th, the Verification Mechanism Committee for the Peace Process reported three violations to the cease-fire; two of them committed by Farc and one by the Government.

The sector is facing a boom of popular referendums, which is creating legal uncertainty among investors. Germán Arce, MinMinas, spoke about the sector and its benefits for country and the department of Meta.