The Llanos Orientales (ODL) pipeline has been working for the last two years to reach an agreement with local communities for an 86km Carmentea-Araguaney section, but for every socialization and advance, another snag appears with local leaders.
The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) is preparing a Conpes document that would create greater incentives for investment in off-shore exploration, one of its priorities in expanding Colombia’s proven reserves.
A prominent family with livestock interests has denounced oil exploration and poor industry practices in environmental matters in Casanare in accusations filed with the country’s Attorney General, and is calling for a penal investigation into the matter.
Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has issued a counter-proposal ahead of negotiations with the USO for a new collective bargaining agreement, and the union has called it an attack on its rights and “historic struggle” with the NOC.
The ELN were active in the northeast but the Farc relatively well-behaved and incidents near areas of interest to the oil and gas industry were down again to 31, below recent and right at long-term averages.
The National Association of Financial Institutions (ANIF) sounds like the bankers association but it is in fact an economics think tank. Once every four years, it turns its quantitative and model building skills to looking at presidential elections.
The latest rounds of talks in Havana started on Monday and this will look at the victims of the conflict, while back in Colombia the election that will define the future of the peace process is now less than two weeks away.
Colombia’s Orinoquia, which includes the oil producing departments of Casanare and Meta, have been left unprotected against economic interests, in particular the hydrocarbons industry, since government views it as an blank slate for whatever activity makes more money, says a group of academics participating in a recent forum.
The governor of Meta, Alan Jara, met with the Minister of Transportation, Cecilia Alvarez Correa, directors from the National Highway Institute (Invías) and representatives from the National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) to define details of a CoP$5T (US$2.6B) highway project being advanced by the central and departmental governments. This and other reports involving Colombia’s roads in the local press.
The Colombian Federation of Bio-fuels (Fedebiocombustibles) published an analysis criticizing government policies that favor hydrocarbons because they look like they were formulated to benefit Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) and its goals, rather than explore other alternatives like bio-fuels.