Incidents were down again slightly this week perhaps disproving our hypothesis that things would heat up around the resumption of peace talks next week. Quantity may be down but severity would seem to be up.
RCN Radio reports that the Farc are assumed to be responsible for an explosives attack on the TransAndino pipeline in two separate locations. The first was in the village of El Verde in municipality of Puerres in the department of Nariño and the second was a few kilometers away in the village of San Pablo in the municipality of Cordoba in the same department. Both are located near the border with Putumayo.
As reported RCN Radio, while in Venezuela and Ecuador the price per gallon of gasoline is US$0,19 and US$1,54 respectively, in Colombia is US$4.14, the fourth highest in Latin America. Uruguay is the Latin American country with the most expensive gasoline (US$5.75 per gallon), followed by Brazil (US$5.34 per gallon) and Chile (US$4.39 per gallon). The high price per gallon of gasoline in Colombia surpasses even that of the United States, where it is estimated that a gallon of gasoline costs US$2.85. It takes a barrel of oil to produce 42 gallons of gasoline.
The Ministry of Mines and Energy inaugurated the first business conference in the gas sector involving producers, transport companies, distributors and local suppliers. Seventy companies responded to the call made by Naturgas —the association of natural gas distributors, producers, transporters and retailers.
This was a big week for corporate results with five more companies reporting.
The Colombia-Canada Chamber of Commerce’s Dialogue Canada event on Thursday, November 15, 2012 offered its attendees a rare treat: the chance to see the head of the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH), Orlando Cabrales, Pacific Rubiales’ Jose Francisco Arata, Talisman’s Chris Spaulding and Petrominerales’ Jack Scott all on the same stage.
As reported by newspaper El Nuevo Siglo, according to the Central Bank (Banco de la República), US$11.411M of the US$13.988M invested by foreigner entrepreneurs in Colombia between January and October 2012, were directed to the mining and hydrocarbons industries. These two sectors offer the greatest growth of foreign investment in the country.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development reported that the government will allocate CoP$107B (US$59M) in royalties to fund projects in science, technology and innovation. These projects are aimed at foods like avocado, cocoa, milk, coffee, sugarcane, and fruits, and matters of farming, bioenergy, fisheries and promising species.
Prior Consultation is a constitutional right of Colombian ethnic groups. This right requires them to be consulted before the development of projects that may impact their sacred territories. However, many indigenous groups complain that neither the government nor the oil and mining companies respect this right
We had lunch last week with Rafael Nieto, lawyer, ex-vice minister of justice in the Uribe government, ex-president of Greystar/Eco Gold, newspaper columnist and founder of the firm NSG which helps companies with issues of community relations and environmental permits.