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In ten years Meta’s Puerto Gaitán, located next to the Rubiales field, went from the department’s poorest community to oil boom town, and with the price drop the bubble has apparently burst once again for the local economy.

As the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar) advances, the USO has taken aim at labor conditions and says it has formed a delegation which along with the Labor Ministry will visit the refinery to confirm its accusations.

A decision to freeze royalty funds after the fall in oil prices has the Finance Ministry at odds with departmental leaders, who want the funds to move forward with regional projects.

Despite a constant message from the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) that a rising price of biofuels has counteracted falling oil prices to keep fuel prices higher, the president of the biofuels association Fedebiocombustibles Jorge Bendeck says its more complicated than that, and increasing the mix would actually drop prices.

After royalty revenues dropped less than expected, Delegates of the National Federation of Departments met with the Minister of Finance to release royalty resources, meanwhile a new royalty spending transparency tool has been released. These and other stories in our periodic roundup.

The Superior Tribunal of Pasto (Nariño) has ruled in favor of a Putumayo based indigenous association (ACIMVIO) and ruled against a prior decision from Interior Ministry to not certify the presence of the Inga group in an area of influence for a Gran Tierra Energy (TSX:GTE) exploration project.

The USO claims workers have been pressured by anti-union forces in its attempt to negotiate entry to Pacific Rubiales Energy (TSX:PRE) through blackmail, and has taken to the international community to up pressure on authorities.

Another account has emerged of an oil services company that has had to file for bankruptcy reorganization, a trend which continues to flog the local industry.

Some US$1.4M has been allocated to the Putumayo Department for social projects, meanwhile the Tauramena municipality received a positive rating in its audit report of its use of royalties. These and other stories in our periodic roundup.

The Caquetá Planning Secretary Julián Carvajal Zamora said that officials from Emerald Energy did not attend a call to meet with affected communities before starting their exploration work, which he says is a needed step for an exploration and production license to be granted.