The National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) is pushing to have the reference terms ready in three weeks for the second phase of the Colombia Round 2014, which will look to award the 69 blocks that did not reserve a bid last week in the opening phase.
An executive with Colombia’s palm oil association FedePalma says that uncertainty and the lack of solid decisions and policies from the government is letting an economic opportunity to increase the use of biofuels pass the country by.
The USO first heralded initial reports last week that its frequent target of accusations Pacific Rubiales (TSX:PRE) had lost its bid to see its Star secondary recovery technology implemented in the Rubiales field, but issued another theory the following day after more details emerged on the future of the technology’s use.
Incidents went down to 36, at recent and above long-term averages but the trend-line continued to head upwards.
Industry leaders grumbled in the corridors about ministerial keynotes at the kickoff of the most important conference of the year but we really could not have expected anything different. In fact, some reading between the lines shows that they have got some of the messages but want the industry to listen some of theirs.
The arrival of now Senator, once President Alvaro Uribe to the Colombian congress, along with his fellow Centro Democratico colleagues has given rise to a much more critical voice in the lawmaking body pointing straight at the peace process. And the new found opposition has come with its own backlash from those supporting the current administration.
Pacific Rubiales Energy (TSX:PRE) and the Minister of Mines and Energy Amylkar Acosta clarified that its STAR secondary recovery project has been suspended, but not cancelled altogether, and the post-pilot study will determine its future.
GasThe Bolsa Mercantil de Colombia (BMC) has been awarded a five year contract to administer the transactions and prices of natural gas, which its president Iván Arroyave says will bring greater transparency and formality into gas transactions and the pricing established in the market.
The 2014 Round of auctions is over and the Colombian government is all smiles (at least in public) with 26 of 95 blocks assigned. Unlike the previous round, all the onshore winners are companies already doing business in Colombia.
After a long awaited meeting of Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) board of directors to discuss the use of Pacific Rubiales’s STAR secondary recovery technology, the companies issued a somber news release that says the pilot in Quifa will not continue. It would appear that the technology’s prospects are null for the Rubiales field, although neither are saying that yet.