The Minister of Mines and Energy Tomás Gonzalez said the government’s current formula to set the price of gasoline and diesel is working and no new fuel law is being considered. The transportation industry reacted calling for a review of the formula and taxes.
The USO held a vote among its affiliates associated with Ecodiesel, part of the Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) group, and the majority voted to opt for a strike before heading to tribunals to resolve differences in a proposed collective bargaining agreement.
This Saturday, October 18 will mark two years since the first formal meeting between government negotiators and Farc guerrillas, a bittersweet milestone for the architects of the process. While it has not failed and has successfully passed through some difficult and tense moments, nor has it rendered an agreement, and a favorable conclusion still seems far off.
The Labor Minister Luis Eduardo Garzón went to Yopal, Casanare to discuss a new law that would limit the role of the Community Action Committees (JAC) in the hiring of local skilled and unskilled labor for the oil industry. Local leaders however accused the government of only tending to the interests of the oil companies.
The Ministry of Environment (MinAmbiente) published the decree 2021 of October 15, 2014, the document which establishes new timeframes for the decision making process that leads to an environmental license.
Interoil (OL:IOX) says that the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) wants to terminate two of its production licenses for the LLA-47 and COR-6 blocks over unpaid bank guarantees and breach of contract. The company says that in COR-6 social and environmental conditions make work impossible.
Colombia’s model for managing the hydrocarbons industry might have brought positive results over the last 10 years, but it is losing force in today’s scenario, with the sector losing its competitive edge due to license delays, security problems and social conflicts, says the director of the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB) oil & gas strategic studies program, Ramón Espinasa.
With the global price of oil falling to below US$90 a barrel, the government has a new problem on its hand beyond the usual triad of licensing, social conflict and security. Just based on the price difference, the national budget could be CoP$12.5T (US$6T) short of the Ministry of Finance (MinHacienda) projections
A number of villages in Yopal have rejected Parex Resources (TSX:PXT) Crytpo-1 project on grounds it would affect the water supply, while the company says the community will not hear their side of the story and assures the water would be safe.
Government promises to reroute crude from the south through pipelines to Ecuador have gone unfulfilled, while Casanare is abuzz with both cooperative work between authorities and the industry, but also criticism. These and other stories in our routine review of road and transportation related stories.