The surrounding region of Paz de Ariporo is suffering a severe drought that has led to widespread deaths of native species and livestock, and the local press is speculating that the boom of the mining-energy sector is to blame.
Citiing a UN agreement to protect 17% of the country’s land mass, authorities are looking to add eight more parks in La Guajira, Arauca, Meta, and Serranía de San Lucas, thus prohibiting any sort of extractive activities in the area.
A number of communities in the Aguazul and Maní municipalities have issued a joint statement to local press alleging that oil operator Perenco Colombia is not complying with legal requirements on environmental, social responsibility and soclaization matters. Is this the latest community to engage in hardball negotiations with oil producers or are the accusations founded?
Ecopetrol has a number of programs including bridge improvements and educational programs, while Raven says its ready to invest in social programs and Llanopetrol is backing students for petrochemical studies. These and other Corporate Social Responsibility programs to make local press lately.
Local hiring and the ongoing debate between the economic benefits to the local economy achieved through using tankers to transport crude stood out as the top items in this week’s road review.
Huila governor Carlos Mauricio Iriarte Barrios said that there is an opportunity for departments in Colombia’s south to join forces to become more competitive to win royalty projects that meet the needs of this region.
Citing shifting, exaggerated demands and requirements from the local community near its Llanos 30 block E&P operations, Parex has decided to close the operation and cancel contracts with local suppliers.
The USO has said that it has presented a new list of terms to Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) which surround a number of policy changes and increased benefits, stances on several environmental issues, and will hold a vote among USO affiliated workers with the NOC on April 25, 2014, in order to demand a new collective bargaining agreement.
Editor’s note: This version of the story clarifies that Gran Tierra Energy had indeed issued a press release to certain local media outlets informing that the suspension of trucks would be a temporary arrangement after HCC received the full release from the company.
The public hearing to grant the environmental license for the Llanos 10 exploratory drilling project came to a close, and with no fanfare, or public condemnation of the project, authorities or grandiose accusations.