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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.

Minister of Labor Luis (Lucho) Garzon has noted the recent announcements of well closures and project cancelations and wants to find a way to prevent unemployment from increasing.

A number of recent announcements of closures of wells in Casanare communities like Maní, Trinidad and Aguazul due to the low price of oil has authorities worried that the impact to local hiring and social investment could wreak havoc on the department.

The USO this week returned to its push to return the Rubiales Field to Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) and also alleged that powerful forces are using the low price of oil to restructure Ecopetrol and the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) against unionized workers.

Colombia’s national training agency (Sena) will collaborate with Casanare oil operators to offer educational opportunities to youth, Cusiana and Cupiagua communities call on Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) to comply with prior promises and Parex has delivered a couple of community centers in Casanare. These and other Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reports.