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Improvised, illegal and dangerous valves installed along Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) pipelines are causing it to lose a growing amount of crude, also resulting in risks of severe environmental damage.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) can celebrate that unlike nearly all of its private industry peers it has been able to post a profit in the third quarter of 2015, but it has seen its production fall slightly, and its E&P business continues to post losses. This has been compensated by its refining business to some degree, while transportation income nearly doubled.

Gran Tierra Energy (TSX:GTE) says that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Petroamerica (TSX Venture:PTA), its first major move since new management took charge earlier this year, and a bid to consolidate its operation in Putumayo.

The USO is planning a general strike in Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) fields and facilities on November 17^th, which it claims is necessary to protect against mass layoffs being planned by multinationals.

In announcing Geopark (NYSE:GPRK) 3Q15 results, CEO James F Park said that the company’s portfolio and cost-management efforts resulted in “approximately 85% of our production being profitable at a $25-30 oil Price”.

The controversy surrounding the operation of Colombia’s largest producing field, Rubiales, continues past Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) decision to operate the field on its own. Now statements from the Minister of Labor Luis Eduardo Garzón have ignited a debate on current operator Pacific E&P (TSX:PRE) workers at the field.

Canacol Energy (TSX:CNE) reported its third quarter 2015 results, which showed a sequential increase in production and a fall in costs, but gas production fell sequentially although up year-over-year.

After Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) said in no uncertain terms there is no money to modernize the Barrancabermeja Refinery despite outcry from residents, the oil workers union USO has charged that the NOC is planning to sell the unit, which the firm denies.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) continues to analyze its association contracts which are about to expire, and says that if it bolsters the company’s financial standing, it could repeat its decision made at the Rubiales-Piri and revert contracts. Around 45 association contracts between 2015-2041 could be reviewed.

Emboldened by the recent decision for Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) to directly operate the Rubiales field, the USO has now taken direct issue with the NOC president Juan Carlos Echeverry, who the union claims is dismantling the company to be privatized and targeting workers in favor of multinationals.