Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) Cartagena Refinery (Reficar) has shown recent, serious advances, but there is little good news from another problematic refinery construction, this one an ethanol plant from the NOC’s biofuels subsidiary, Bioenergy. And critics ask whether the mistakes continue.
Spain’s Repsol (MSE:REP:MC) has unveiled a new strategic plan for 2016-2020 where it looks to optimize its cost and remain resilient despite the fall in oil prices, with cost efficiencies gained through its recent acquisition of Talisman earlier this year a central pillar.
Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) says it will continue to collaborate with Pacific E&P (TSX:PRE) following the reversion of the Rubiales field, and the option of integrating Rubiales with its operation in Castilla and Chichimene weighed in the decision to operate the largest producing field in Colombia directly.
Chinese oil services firm Kerui says that it is looking to partner with Colombian firms, using an offer of the latest technology and cost savings to build its client base in South America. The firm already operates in Argentina and Venezuela, and says it has US$1B to finance projects locally.
The Chinese/Indian owned operator Mansarovar let another bit of light shine into its operation in Colombia, and said that it expects strong growth with projections to see its production grow to 131,000bd by 2020, with an emphasis on technology and secondary recovery.
Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has finally made a decision on the future of the Rubiales field, and says that it will directly operate the field once its association contract with Pacific E&P (TSX:PRE) ends in June of next year.
President Juan Manuel Santos was on hand to receive the first shipment of crude destined for the modernized Cartagena Refinery (Reficar), with full capacity expected for the first half of next year.
A bit of spin is to be expected when government officials address strategic projects, but Minister of Finance Mauricio Cárdenas took it to a surprising level and asserted that the Cartagena Refinery really did not have overruns, rather its high cost was the fault of Glencore’s poor estimations in 2006.
Coal miner Drummond says that it could receive its environmental license “at any moment” to start production of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) in La Guajira, where a concession dispute with the coal miner of the same block, Cerrejón had kept the project from moving forward.
Ecopetrol invests in improving educational infrastructure in Casanare, meanwhile the firm also promises the construction of a college campus in Granada. These and other stories on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in our periodic summary.
2025, Hydrocarbons Colombia, All Rights Reserved.
