The first negotiations of 2016 have gotten started in Havana this week. The holiday season was calm for the most part, but the March 23 deadline to sign a final agreement looms in the immediate future. Then the hard work to implement the peace transition must take shape.
The service industry and members of the Colombian Chamber of Oil Goods and Services (Campetrol) have suffered over the last year, with 38 service firms filing for bankruptcy protection and 40,000 jobs lost. Its president Ruben Dario Lizarralde urged Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) to continue exploring for the good of the country.
The National Hydrocarbons Agency has canceled three contracts with Optima Oil and Range Resources for not meeting their contractual obligations and supplying inadequate letters of credit as a guarantee.
The National Planning Department has temporarily suspended royalty payments to 127 municipalities in 25 departments for not supplying information on the advance of royalty projects according to established timeframes. This and other stories on royalties in our periodic summary.
The headlines this week scream “Oil hits US$30!” noting that this was the first time this had happened in 12 years. There are lots of ‘oil prices’ but the benchmark most used by Colombian E&P producers, Brent, did indeed finish Tuesday at US$30.72 and closed today at US$30.26. The tendencies are worrying.
Casanare produces much oil and as a result, is also a focus for corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects, as well as repeated industry/community conflicts. To finish off 2015 and start the new year, we review a number of stories in our periodic summary.
The government announced that fuel prices for January 2016 would increase slightly for gasoline and drop slightly for diesel. But five days later the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) said that shortages of ethanol have forced it to adjust the mixture, and also the price. Fuel distributors allege that this has caused them losses.
The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) issued a decree (N°2345 of December 2015) that looks to increase the reliability and supply of natural gas in the country and address a lack of infrastructure.
The Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) president Francisco José Lloreda has again called on the government to offer new fiscal terms that would allow the industry in Colombia to be more competitive.
Our readers do not need to be told that oil prices continued to slide in 4Q15 and the New Year has brought no relief. But it may not have registered that the gap between Brent and WTI has virtually disappeared.
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