The president of the Colombian Petroleum Association Francisco José Lloreda started a round of producing regions with a visit to Yopal, Casanare, where he warned that that the government must take greater measures to address the impact of falling oil prices and the recent tax reform.
Casanare and industry representatives met to discuss the state of a transportation agreement and found positive results, while in Meta the government will invest to pave a stretch of road leading to the Rubiales Field. These and other stories in our periodic roundup of road-related issues.
The drop in the oil price has spurred dramatic cuts in the investment plans of Colombia’s most important operators, but there is a long ripple effect that the price fall has on the communities, junior operators and side projects that go beyond the big headlines. Here is a summary of some of the more relevant stories to emerge over the last week or so.
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.
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