A Bloomberg article, press releases by Pacific Rubiales (TSX:PRE) and Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) and radio appearances by members of Colombia’s comptroller’s office took PRE on a rollercoaster. At one point on Monday it was down nearly 10% before recovering on somewhat on Tuesday and finishing Wednesday only a little more than 1% down.
The accumulated losses from multiples strikes and protests in 2013 cost the Colombian economy a total of CoP$1.8T (US$893.9M), with the largest loss coming from the August 2013 general strike. The oil industry has felt the effect due to reduced transportation options, and frozen fuel prices have eaten into Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) revenue.
A local newspaper in Putumayo published an opinion piece from a local community representative that questions the department’s ability to handle increased oil production, with doubts surrounding the authority’s ability to react to spills and its limited infrastructure.
Continued security problems have the Arauca Department authorities and law enforcement officials scrambling to properly assign personnel and resources to the task of protecting the strategic Coveñas / Caño Limón and Bicentennial pipelines.
Colombia’s association of transportation firms Asecarga has accused Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) of awarding contracts to select firms and not holding transparent, open processes to select a contractor. The association has sent a formal request to the nation’s inspector general Alejandro Ordóñez to investigate the matter.
The Minister of Mines and Energy Amylkar Acosta has ruled out a new price freeze on diesel while transportation associations and fuel retailers repeat demands that the cost must drop.
A proposal from the National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) to route tanker-trucks carrying crude from the Rubiales fields through the municipalities of Maní and Aguazul has a number of local officials in arms over the possible ramification of the increased tanker traffic.
The Caño Limon –Coveñas Pipeline, an asset of Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC), announced the awarding of the maintenance contract to a new operator, and while some in the local press are interested in the opportunities this may bring, others have rejected it as a change of façade and nothing else.
The USO and CB&I (NYSE:CBI), the contractor in charge of construction of the expansion of the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar) sat down along with national authorities and Ecoperol (NYSE:EC) representatives to follow up on a collective labor agreement reached last year.
Colombia’s oil and gas sector led the market with an average salary increase of 5,6% in 2013, well above accumulated inflation for the year of 1.9%, meaning workers in the industry increased their buying power last year.
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