A delegation of Canadian union leaders made a visit this week to a popular tribunal and public hearing held by the USO in Puerto Gaitan and promised legal action under provisions in the Colombian-Canadian Free Trade Agreement.
Ecopetrol released purchasing figures which show that just over 90% of its purchasing for goods and services in the first half of 2013 (January –June 2013) were with Colombian companies. Moreover, its hiring of local suppliers grew 46% compared to the previous year, according to information from the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas).
Llanos Orientales (ODL) socialized the construction of a Carmentea-Araguaney pipeline in the Yopal municipality, which will connect a well in Tauramena with Cenit’s Araguaney station in Yopal, and community leaders are wary of its effect on urban growth and alleged lack of local hires.
Colombia’s Chamber for Petroleum Goods and Services, Campetrol, published a statement written by Pacific Rubiales which outlines the company’s case that it has been a model in terms of development and ideas for how the industry must move forward.
The USO held in Puerto Gaitán the first of its “Oil Ethical and Political Public Hearing”, aimed at the “multinationals and companies that extract hydrocarbon in the region”. The union has been campaigning for these public gatherings for about three weeks now, and this week focused its statements on Pacific Rubiales in particular.
The municipal council members of Villavicencio have sent a formal request to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to debate issues surrounding hydrocarbons exploration and extraction in the surrounding area.
The USO will start regional protests in Puerto Gaitán July 12-15 as part of a wider campaign to organize against the presence of multinational oil firms in Colombia, and an economic model that the union says has led to widespread social and environmental abuses at the hands of foreign firms.
The Transport Minister Cecilia Álvarez Correa-Glen announced that the ministry will form a technical committee to come up with solution to mitigate some of the problems stemming from oil trucks on public highways.
Colombian oil producer Raven held a socialization meeting to present the project diagnostic for a pipeline that will connect its operations with the Bicentennial Pipeline.
Oil extractor Equion has refuted accusations from the community action board president of El Morro, Jorge Castro, saying that it is complying with environmental measures to protect the water and that no one has invested more in the roads than it has.
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