Casanare has become a haven for using community distraught for personal gain, says an opinion column in the local paper. There might be justification in some of the complaints, but the demands and complaints have turned “into a true shopping list” says the author, who expresses a point of view rarely found in the local paper.
This week the Farc guerrilla group was particularly talkative, with a spokesperson saying that the conditions are now right for a peace agreement to be made. But they also made it clear that no agreement can be made which includes jail time for its leaders.
A survey performed by the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) found that 80% of the companies that participated have plans to increase investment in exploration this year, and the ACP president Alejandro Martínez says there are a number of macro factors that will push for greater investment in exploration.
The mayor of Meta’s capital Villavicencio Juan Guillermo Zuluaga has called for a green tax for oil companies to compensate financially for the environmental toll on the producing and surrounding region.
The Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) has been coordinating an effort to get expert opinion on the causes of the drought affecting Paz de Ariporo, and that its roots are not firmly in the oil industry. But a persistent community movement continues to finger oil.
The final stretch of the Colombia’s great oil infrastructure: The Bicentennial Pipeline passes through Caño Limon, which is fraught with problems. Guerrillas attack it, while an indigenous community will not let crews in to repair it. The end result is missed shipments, 35,000bd of lost production worth millions a day and jobs for the local community. Who will right this situation?
GasThe Colombian Association of Natural Gas (Naturgas) says 2013 was a positive year for the natural gas industry and that its use continues to grow, and it now has a 24.4% share of primary energy production, and that if methane gas associated with coal can be harnessed, reserves could triple over the next five years.
A meeting in Yopal that included all the big institutions from the national government for a roads project in Casanare yielded an offer of support from the national government, but the local authorities say it pales in comparison to the costs of keeping heavy trucks on the road.
Citing the risk that social programs could be affected until royalty reforms, the central government has issued a decree to pay more than US$176M to producing regions, in what appears to be most relevant change to the new royalty system since its enactment.
Frequent attacks on the Caño Limon and Bicentennial Pipeline have claimed another causality: 500 jobs with Occidental de Colombia (Oxy), who has cut the positions as their pumping station in Arauca has been unable to keep up optimum crude levels for a month due to attacks from the ELN guerrilla, while another report says partner Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has declared force majeure on shipments for the same reason.
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