It took only a matter of days before public backlash surrounding the awarding of an environmental license near La Macarena, Meta had boiled to the point where public officials, even the President, were offering explanations and suspending licences. But the revelations and consequences continue to file in.
The fall in oil prices has set off a chain reaction which started in the producing regions but has now made its way much further and is changing the economic and social reality of the country.
Yesterday, Pacific E&P (TSX:PRE) confirmed the TSX had said the listing was under review. Today, it confirmed that trading had been suspended because of the restructuring agreement and went on to say “it is expected that the Company’s common shares will be delisted from the TSX on or about May 25, 2016”. It will have been only just over 9 years since the stock price broke CDN$1.00 on its way to CDN$30.88.
GasIn March 2016 the amount of energy supplied by thermal generators amounted to 51% of Colombia’s energy grid, while hydro accounted for 43%.
In a matter of a few days, a blizzard of controversy over an environmental license to proceed with an E&P project near a natural reserve in La Macarena, Meta forced explanations from authorities and an eventual suspension announced by President Juan Manuel Santos.
The Delegate Controller for the Environment insists that the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar) only has an environmental license for “internal” transport of industrial coke which does not include shipping it in trucks to the port, and said it must request a new license.
A few years ago, it seems that there was an oil conference every other week in Colombia. Low oil prices killed that trend but, considering its longer time frame (relatively unaffected by current price woes), offshore is the new ‘belle of the ball’ and so there is a flurry of related events.
Last week we updated our estimates of netback and Production and Transport costs for crude oil. This week we look at gas and although the sample size is much smaller, gas widened its advantage over crude oil in terms of netback.
The USO has jumped into the controversy surrounding the environmental license of Hupecol in La Macarena, warning of the damage which could occur from granting licenses like these.
About twice a year we have a reason to publish a long term graph with oil prices in real terms going back to 1986. We had heard of but not found a series going back to the 1920s. Last week at the Association International of Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN) meeting in Bogotá, we saw a graph going back to 1861. The source for this proved easy to find and so appears above.
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