A proposed bill to make modifications to the two year old royalty system has provoked responses from a number of Senators who are demanding the changes, and accusations from others that recent promises from the central government have already been cast aside.
USO Meta vice president Dario Cárdenas has been absolved of charges against him and released from prison a year and three days after being arrested for crimes associated with protests in Puerto Gaitán, Meta.
The oil workers union USO has been banging their drums about an Ecopetrol seismic contractor Sismopetrol, who had closed operations and left workers unpaid. Now Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has clarified why the work had stopped, and said it will compensate the affected workers.
While Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) financial results might not be looking so pretty, the NOC detailed its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities and it has been involved in a number of projects mentioned recently in local press. Authorities are also welcoming Colombia’s candidacy in the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). These and other CSR stories in our periodic summary.
The USO said that it has been working with the Tesoro de Bubuy community in Aguazul to demand concessions on environmental impact and social investment from Perenco, who has since said it will close the project as a result.
An agreement that required the intervention of the Labor Ministry to negotiate between the operator of the new port project, Impala, and local workers and communities has lifted a 30-day strike which has held up progress on the construction of the new facilities.
Community Action Committees (JACS) from Casanare have organized themselves to reject labor reforms proposed by the Labor Ministry that would sideline their role in local hiring in favor of government-run agencies. In a letter, the JACS said the reform is just as bad as the royalty reform.
A boom in the local population and migratory patterns that has led to increased unemployment, crime rates and now budget problems due to the lack of direct royalties. The Aguazul mayor Fernando Camacho argues that the nearly 15 years of oil activity has left the community worse off.
Perenco says that illegal blockades at its La Gloria Station in Aguazul Casanare have forced it to close its operations in the area.
Hours before a strike by USO-affiliated workers with Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) biofuels refiner Ecodiesel, the union and company reached an agreement and averted the strike.
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