The recent decision of the Constitutional Court to prohibit oil activities in Orito, Putumayo goes much deeper than that particular municipality. It signals a shift in the balance of power between Bogotá and regions when it comes to extractive activities.
Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has made a push in local press to justify its adjustments to contract values as a measure to protect employment and the value of the company in oil producing regions, but says that communities must work with it to do so.
Alarms from environmental groups in Casanare has put a seismic campaign planned by Canacol Energy (TSX:CNE) into a firestorm of controversy over a permit to extract water from the Cravo Sur River.
Regional leaders are looking to Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) to counter cuts in spending on local goods and services and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs, both of which have been hard hit by the fall in oil prices. These and other CSR-related stories in our periodic summary.
The USO says that direct negotiation with services-firm Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) has not produced an agreement, and called on its members and all other workers to vote for a strike.
The Constitutional Court has ordered the immediate suspension of oil activities in the Orito Municipality in Putumayo, and ruled that there was no prior consultation with indigenous communities in the region.
The oil industry’s actions to mitigate the fall in oil prices has meant slashed budgets and laid havoc to the goods and services sector. Not even the infamous but powerful Community Action Comittees (JACs) have been left out of the consequences.
The USO welcomed the recent report from the General Controller which questioned the budget overruns in the modernization of the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar), saying that it proves their concerns were warranted and that the outsourcing model is bringing harm to the nation. Meanwhile, workers in two different instances have their own accusations against the union.
Outspoken Casanare congressional representative Jorge Camilo Abril warned the Colombian Petroleum Associations (ACP) that since oil companies benefited for nearly 15 years from oil prices around US$100/barrel, the high profits should mean they increase their investments in hard times.
Alirio Barrera has taken office as Casanare Governor and immediately took to one of the department’s main issues: the General Royalty System (SGR). In a development event organized by the SGR’s handler, the National Panning Department, he called for a new royalty reform.
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