Government commentators and the local press blame the slide in oil prices for the significant devaluation of the Colombian peso seen in the past 18 months. The graph shows the kind of charts used to illustrate the point. We worked a little harder with some more rigorous statistical analysis and found that oil price movements are indeed important, explaining about 40% of exchange rate movements but this has only been the case since oil prices ‘fell off a cliff’ in the middle of last year.
The Puerto Bahia port facility has presented the results of its first six months of operation, in which it says it has exported more than 640,000 barrels of crude on four tankers, as well as 14 ships with general cargo.
In the latest advance from Havana, government and Farc negotiators announced that they have reached an agreement on both transitional justice and victim restitution.
Equion Energy president María Victoria Riaño said that the company is passing through a complex moment and is finishing a round of layoffs to cut costs. She also lamented the slow progress and community problems that prevented seismic exploration during the boom times when prices were high.
After a necessary change in the rules, which allowed individuals access to the recently-opened Mexican oil market, and after two disappointing Round One auctions, the third phase was held yesterday (December 15, 2015). All 25 available contracts were awarded, making it is the most successful round so far.
Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) says that it will deepen its spending cuts and austerity program and reduce its investments in 2016 to US$4.8B, in a plan that looks to keep production at a similar level of 2015.
For the first time, The National Planning Department (DNP) held an awards session to recognize the best use of royalty funds in an initiative called “Well Invested Royalties”, with top honors going to a governor and three mayors. This and other royalty related stories in our periodic summary.
Both Promigás and Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) have received recognition for community programs and innovation, while the NOC says it has also successfully finished a number of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs in Huila and Nariño. These and other stories on CSR in our periodic summary.
Illegal mining and the clearing of lands for grazing has been fingered as a main cause for deforestation, while in Casanare a number of community conflicts are brewing over environmental issues. These and other environmental stories in our periodic summary.
The Colombian Petroleum Association released the results of a study on investment trends and found that the tax reform of 2014 has led to a poor investment climate which has resulted in a 28% fall in CAPEX in 2015 when compared to the year prior, with exploration taking the biggest hit.
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