GasBurdened by a growing amount of unpaid bills and subsidies, Gas Natural Fenosa has listed four solutions it is demanding from the government to address the problems associated with billing customers of its subsidiary Electricaribe, or it will take the Colombian government to court.
The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) has frozen the price of biofuels which it uses in its special fuel price formula. Palm growers and their association Fedepalma rejected the measure and warned that it will bring substantial losses for their industry.
The executive director of the National Federation of Departments, Amylkar Acosta supported calls from the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) to President Juan Manuel Santos to reform the General Royalty System, and said it would contribute to neutralizing growing social conflict. This and other royalty related stories in our periodic summary.
Six areas in the “Orinoco belt” — which occupies the foothills of the Llanos on the borders of Meta and Guaviare — look to extract up to 10M barrels over the next 10 years.
The Colombian Petroleum Association published a statement summarizing some of the main conclusions from its annual congress and said that if the oil industry’s success came after a reform; the price drop offers another opportunity for further reform.
Before any of the companies carrying out offshore exploration can start producing hydrocarbons a regulatory model for the activity must be put in place to allow the activity, according to the general director of the Maritime Authority (Dimar) Vice Admiral Pablo Emilio Romero.
“It was as if God had decided to put to the test every capacity for surprise and was keeping the inhabitants of Macondo in a permanent alteration between excitement and disappointment, doubt and revelation, to such an extreme that no one knew for certain where the limits of reality lay.”
We have updated our Colombian share price index and while the average picture looks good (see graph), that is almost entirely due to Parex (TSX:PXT).
Despite the loss of the ‘yes’ vote the USO said it continues to support the peace agreement said that process cannot be undone. The union also called for a “spirit of reconciliation” from the supporters of ‘no’.
Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has launched its new business plan through 2020, with a renewed focus on exploration and production and an estimated US$13B investment plan.