Community leaders in the municipalities of Tame, Arauca and Hato Corozal, Casanare have formally requested a public hearing to voice questions on the environmental impact of oil production in the Llanos 10 block.
Oil producer Equion says it expects net oil production in 2014 to increase slightly to 27,900bd in 2014, compared to 27,000bd in 2013, and addressed accusations that seismic exploration is affecting the environment in Casanare.
The Casanare Department has issued a resolution that will repeal the legality of internal community action committee (JAC) regulations and increase oversight over the entities after detecting a series of irregularities in how they operate.
Community leaders from 22 municipalities in four departments will participate in a march on February 20th, 2014 in Meta capital of Villavicencio that will reject any oil production or exploration activities near the local water sources as the anti-oil sentiment in the region’s communities grows.
The USO launched a series of accusations against Pacific Rubiales Energy (TSX:PRE), one of its favorite targets in the oil industry, taking aim at its STAR secondary recovery technology which the union says has failed.
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.
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.
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.