The USO said that it has reached a milestone by affiliating a third of Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) workers, which according to the union means that its collective bargaining agreement can be applied to all workers of the company.
The president of the Colombian Petroleum Association Francisco José Lloreda has joined calls for the government to take special actions to guarantee that special Farc concentration zones do not put hydrocarbons projects at risk.
A wave of blockades in Putumayo, Caquetá and Huila add to the 45 registered this year in a growing trend which have some speculating in the national press that companies could start suspending or canceling projects.
The General Controller (CGR) Edgardo Maya Villazón has issued yet another report which found multiple ‘white elephant’ projects in 16 departments. Exactly the problems the General Royalty System and the overall of the royalty scheme were supposed to prevent.
The Minister of Labor Clara Lopez was again on the trail in Colombia’s regions denouncing the labor losses of the oil industry and effects for local economies, while an issue in Huila on disabled workers has received greater attention after a Senator intervenes.
The USO called for its members and allies to vote “yes” in an eventual plebiscite of the peace agreements between the government and the Farc, which it said will allow the “start of building peace with social justice”.
Putumayo oil operators have denounced the presence of new blockades being carried out by unidentified individuals near one of the Farc concentration zones, raising fresh concerns that these areas could represent a threat to the oil industry.
The Colombian Chamber of Oil Goods and Services (Campetrol) expressed its concerns that concentration zones designed to house Farc members include a number of oil producing municipalities, even though the government has said it would avoid parks, mining operations, borders or indigenous zones.
A project being carried by Equion and the Colombian Agency for Reintegration (ACR) was recognized in the Latinoamérica Verde awards, and the Ministry of Environment will investigate the impact of oil spills in Tumaco. These and other environmental stories in our periodic summary.
The Labor Minister Clara López has warned that a profound labor crisis is affecting the departments of Meta, Casanare and Vichada, as 50% of the 120,000 jobs with the oil industry have been lost during 2015 and 2016 thus far.
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