At 13, this was the second lowest week we have had since we started collecting statistics at the beginning of 2Q12. This was an above average week for non-armed forces reported/guerrilla-initiated incidents. That dropped our 4-week Moving Average incident count down to 23.3 but the 52 week average was essentially stable at 38.5 incidents per week.
We picked up a story a few weeks ago that dead chigüiros had been found in an open tank at a Casanare installation belonging to Parex. A chigüiro is a rodent about the size of a dog or a small pig, indigenous to Colombia’s Llanos. We spoke to Parex to get their side of the story.
Gran Tierra Energy raised its daily production estimates on increased yields from the Costayaco field in Colombia and sustained production from its Moqueta well where it discovered a new oil column earlier this year. Colombia continues to provide the majority of its daily production.
This week saw little new material or events in relation to the ongoing peace talks in Havana, as both Santos and the Farc continued to repeat their stance while little official communication comes out of the talks in Cuba.
Citing a “high rate of accidents” due to the amount of heavy trucks on the roads in Casanare, the Casanare Secretary of Transportation has issued a resolution that prohibits heavy trucks, including the tankers carrying oil, from using the roadways on weekends on holidays.
Average daily production of oil in July 2013 in Colombia reached a new record of 1,020,000 barrels per day, a 14.8% increase over the same period last year, and comes despite a number of strikes, blockades and protests in oil production regions.
A subject of contentious debate, the new royalty system has its share of critics and the director of the National Planning Department (DNP) looked to quell detractors while speaking on the advances of the government during the current administration’s 3 years in office.
Representatives from multiple oil operators, the Interior Ministry and the National Hydrocarbons Agency met with the mayor of San Luís Palenque and local village spokespeople to sign an agreement related to local hiring and road maintenance.
The Secretary of Transit and Transport of the Municipality of Yopal has launched a public service campaign to alert drivers of heavy vehicles to the traffic signs and rules, as the authority says it has received community complaints that these drivers are causing problems on the public roadways.
Colombia’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MinAmbiente) responded to the doubts of President Juan Manuel Santos on environmental licensing and the management of the Autonomous Regional Corporation (CAR) in an accountability session and published a summary of its message on its webpage.