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GasGasThe International Gas Union (IGU) wrapped up its congress in Cartagena, with the issue of supply and price in Colombia being a major issue, but it also called for a greater focus on highlighting the environmental benefits of natural gas over other hydrocarbons.

GasIndustrial users on the Caribbean are already feeling a pinch in their gas supply and costs due to El Niño, and this depicts a larger problem of how to boost Colombia’s short term gas supply.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has reported advances in its Environmental Management Plan for Education and Environmental Culture in Middle Magdalena, and a bill has been submitted to establish environmental royalties. These and other stories related to the environment in our periodic summary.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC), through the Colombian Petroleum Institute (ICP) is developing heavy crude water removal technology and has also inaugurated a number of community projects in Meta. These and other stories on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in our periodic summary.

The El Niño weather phenomenon has led to a sharp increase in demand for natural gas, and industries on the Caribbean coast are calling for government intervention due to the deficit and soaring prices.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has finally made a decision on the future of the Rubiales field, and says that it will directly operate the field once its association contract with Pacific E&P (TSX:PRE) ends in June of next year.

The Casanare Departmental government and local authorities held a roundtable discussion on plans to establish environmental protections in the wetlands near the La Cristalina Lagoon and Paz de Ariporo, parts of which include the Llanos 62 production block.

The USO claims that Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has been misleading the value and potential of its assets so it can justify privatizing them, pointing out that multinationals have taken over fields with poor production and managed to improve them.

This is the second and final part of an article we published last week with the same title (1). Peace certainly looks closer now than it has for decades. That does not diminish the challenge as this article from Intelligence Petrolera’s Carlos Goedder points out.

At the ACP conference in mid-October, Ecopetrol President Juan Carlos Echeverry said peace was the most important success factor for the oil and gas industry.