News and AnalysIs for

Parex Resources (TSX:PXT) narrowed its net loss in the first quarter of 2015, and registered production above its projections for the period.

Responding to a report from the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) think tank UPME which criticized subsidy support and tax breaks for biofuels, the industry association Fedebiocombustible responded, defending the use of ethanol and biofuel mixtures and rejecting the notion that it receives such benefits.

The Meta Department government has frozen more than half of its planned spending on projects that were to be funded by royalties as it prepares for a significant decrease in royalty funds in the next years. This and other stories in our periodic roundup of royalty related issues.

Incident counts were down to 28 but non-Armed Forces reported incidents were up so the decrease was due to less Army reporting.

Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) Colombian Petroleum Institute (ICP) former employees who lost their worker contracts back in February wrote an open letter to Ecopetrol president Juan Carlos Echeverry, charging that the NOC has been violating the law by outsourcing labor.

Canacol Energy (TSX:CNE) has announced its 2015 Capex plan which includes an investment of US$84M for its operations in Colombia and Ecuador. Due to uncertainty on the price of crude, the firm says it has focused on its gas reserves, and expects 60% of its production immune to fluctuations in the price of crude .

Promigas president Antonio Celia believes that there is commitment from the government to make gas infrastructure licensing more agile, but the system does not fully consider the cost of delays in licensing, considering the loss in royalties, investment, job creation, gas availability and gas rates.

The Farc attack in mid-April has eroded public support to its lowest point since the start of the peace process in November 2012, a Gallup poll has found.

Costs associated with closed operations in Peru and the fall of oil prices cut into Gran Tierra Energy (TSX:GTE) financial results, but the firm says its production remains stable, looked to focus on cost cutting and would not comment on management speculation in its first quarter 2015 conference call.

Through the National Federation of Departments, Colombia’s governors have held an extraordinary meeting to align themselves and call on the government to release royalty funds assigned in the 2013-14 budget in their entirety.