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The USO celebrated 92 years of existence with a pat on the back and taking credit for the creation of Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) — in its monopoly, completely nationalized-oil-industry format of course.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has a number of Corporate Social Responsibility Programs (CSR) related to risk prevention and wildlife preservation, while Pacific Rubiales (TSX:PRE) is completing an adult literacy program in Casanare. These and other CSR related stories in our periodic summary.

The USO sees several convenient political battles where it can gain ground and is aggressively approaching them: promises from the government on the Barrancabermeja Refinery modernization, worker layoffs due to price fall and increases in natural gas prices to the end user on the Caribbean coast.

The Minister of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) Tomás González called for the industry to keep production above a million barrels a day, which he says will help avoid mass lay-offs in the oil sector.

The National Planning Department (DNP) has warned that projects that look for royalty funding will have to be prioritized considering the drop of oil prices and the consequences on royalty payments received by the government. This and other royalty related stories in our periodic wrap.

The USO accused the oil industry and government of attempting to pass industry losses due to the fall of oil prices on to workers.

Colombia’s Senate is back in session for 2015 and its first priority involving the hydrocarbons industry is natural gas prices.

With low international oil prices, practices that increase costs for companies like the use of intermediaries to place workers are even more damaging since it can be enough to make a project unprofitable.

The Minister of Labor Luis (Lucho) Garzon led a meeting on Wednesday with workers, company representatives and government officials to address to potential impact that labor cuts could have on the oil regions. This is a follow-on to an article we published yesterday.

Already a number of wells have been shuttered for the low price of oil, prompting speculation on how the decline will impact the industry and communities in the short and mid term.