Gasoline pricing is a hot topic in Colombia these days so this month we take up the issue. Luis Ernesto Mejía’s article this month succinctly deals with the major reasons why arbitrarily setting fuel prices based on misguided populism or a misunderstanding of opportunity cost will cause more harm than good.
The USO is riding high this week after reaching a collective agreement last week with the construction contractor CB&I (NYSE:CBI) at the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar) after only three days of a general strike. The organization called it an important step in its struggle.
Incidents near areas of interest to the oil and gas industry were stable this week at 31 at or above recent but below long-term averages. This was a below average week for non-armed forces reported/guerrilla-initiated incidents. Our 4-week Moving Average incident count went up again to 31.3 but the 52 week average dropped to 35.8 incidents per week.
Representatives from 17 oil companies signed an agreement with the Casanare Departmental government in Yopal that establishes an action plan on social issues, productive projects and road infrastructure for the next two and a half years.
The Bicentennial Pipeline (OBC) says it will be operational sometime in the fourth quarter of 2013, which signifies another delay in the launch of the 960km, up to 150,000 barrels a day transport infrastructure.
President Juan Manuel Santos addressed the 68th general assembly of the United Nations in New York and looked to put questions into the peace process from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the past.
The central government is aware the general royalties system (SGR) is not working as best it could, a little more than a year after its implementation, and is open to making adjustments, according to the Mines and Energy Minister Amylkar Acosta.
Following a decision early this month from the Constitutional Court that the executive branch could no longer set fuel prices, the court has also rejected a request to suspend the ramifications of the ruling for a year.
Reclame Colombia, an activist group advocating small scale mining over multinational, large-scale projects, held a debate in Bogotá on the future of the Rubiales field after the concession contract held by Pacific Rubiales (TSX:PRE) expires.
A company called Carman Internacional is allegedly responsible for an oil leak that contaminated the Cartagena Bay with at least 5,000 liters of crude from a makeshift oil storage pools. Ecopetrol (NYSE: EC) has intervened to clean up the mess.