After a number of families raised protests against oil producer Cepcolsa and set up a blockade in the access to a local well, company and community officials met to discuss labor and social guarantees in the Sevilla village.
A number of corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects have been completed or announced over the last few weeks which show a more positive side of community and industry relations. Many are too small to warrant a full story, but together paint a picture of how the oil sector’s resources can benefit local communities.
Transparency International, the NGO that investigates corruption at the national and international level, has published its biannual survey of countries. Given some investor interest in other Latin American countries, we thought the above graph might be illuminating.
Colombia’s economy growth is “unbalanced” and slowing, and the increased supply of shale gas oil could tamper the boom in the country’s energy production in 2-3 years says Sergio Clavijo, director of Colombia’s National Association of Financial Institutions.
Five Casanare mayors spoke out against seismic testing Ecopetrol has planned for its Odisea 3D project in Casanare, alleging the testing is performed without adequate control and affects water sources and the environment in general.
The National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) has presented a CoP$7T (US$3.7B) budget for “megaprojects” to improve road infrastructure in the Meta Department, considering the increased oil production, agro-industrial development and general increase in the department’s commercial activity.
Looking back a year, production for Pacific Rubiales grew 38% to reach 127,555boed, sequentially flat compared to the 127,889boed produced in the 1Q13. Profits in the quarter were US$57.6M, a 74.3% drop compared to last year and a 52.7% drop compared to 1Q13.
Ecopetrol’s transportation company Cenit is preparing a three pillared plan designed to reduce the industry’s costs associated with producing heavy crude as this takes a growing share of overall extraction in Colombia.
After coming out of a strike early this month union workers with the USO continued talks involving the labor conditions at the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar) as the union claims the company is forcing workers to work extra hours through intimidation.
In order to finance infrastructure investments in roads, bridges, airports and other items holding back Colombia’s development Ecopetrol should sell an additional 10% of its shares to private investors, says the president of Colombia’s National Association of Financial Institutions (ANIF).