Following through on promises to limit the number of tanker trucks heading from fields in Putumayo through Huila, national government officials have announced that crude will start heading to Ecuador via pipeline starting on July 15th. Truckers that currently move the crude through Huila in tankers have rejected the measure.
An oil engineer, Oscar Vanegas, and repeated critic of the oil industry in Casanare has received his own share of criticism after the Industrial University of Santander (UIS), where Vanegas is a staff member, said he does not speak for the institution and presents ideas without proper scientific field testing to back them up.
The Llanos Orientales (ODL) pipeline has been working for the last two years to reach an agreement with local communities for an 86km Carmentea-Araguaney section, but for every socialization and advance, another snag appears with local leaders.
Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has issued a counter-proposal ahead of negotiations with the USO for a new collective bargaining agreement, and the union has called it an attack on its rights and “historic struggle” with the NOC.
Colombia’s Orinoquia, which includes the oil producing departments of Casanare and Meta, have been left unprotected against economic interests, in particular the hydrocarbons industry, since government views it as an blank slate for whatever activity makes more money, says a group of academics participating in a recent forum.
The governor of Meta, Alan Jara, met with the Minister of Transportation, Cecilia Alvarez Correa, directors from the National Highway Institute (Invías) and representatives from the National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) to define details of a CoP$5T (US$2.6B) highway project being advanced by the central and departmental governments. This and other reports involving Colombia’s roads in the local press.
The General Royalty System (SGR) continues into its second year and there is no shortage of critics for the system, but it also has its supporters as well. Over the week a lineup of editorial opinions and press reports have addressed the royalties and the system used to control and award them.
Parex Resources celebrated the “day of oxygen” and donated trees to local communities, while Equion backs woman entrepreneurs and Ecopetrol helps build a classroom. These and other Corporate Responsibility (CSR) stories from Colombian press.
The National Hydrocarbons Agency has published a letter confirming that it has reached an agreement with Pacific Rubiales Energy (TSX:PRE) and will proceed with termination of its concession contract in the Rio Ceibas basin (VSM-13), to the delight of the local community.
The USO and Ecopetrol have taken another step towards the negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement after formally resigning from the current, standing agreement.