News and AnalysIs for

An offhand comment the other day by a multinational oil company got us thinking once again about the difference between E&P companies that are top-of-mind because they have a lot of production and companies that are top-of-mind because they are responsible for a lot of operations.

Odin Petroil, which owns a biofuels refinery in Santa Marta, Magdalena is going through a restructuring process, and now has two competing offers to consider for use of the refinery including a recent one from Brazilian NOC Petrobras (NYSE:PBR).

With three months under his belt as Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) president Juan Carlos Echverry has started leaving his mark on the structure of the NOC as it looks to fulfill its new strategy through 2020, but structural challenges remain strong.

Pacific Rubiales Energy (TSX:PRE) CEO Ronald Pantin says that the company is on solid financial standing and will be able to pay its long term debts and grow production, despite the collapse of the offer by investment groups Alfa and Harbour Energy.

The Minister of Mines and Energy Tomás González says that regardless of who owns Pacific Rubiales (TSX:PRE), the field must be operated properly and responsibly.

The expansion of the Sincelejo to Cartagena gas pipeline being planned by distributor Promigas has received its environmental license, allowing it to grow its capacity from 60mmcfpd to 165mmcfpd

Mexican investment group Alfa and Harbour Energy have terminated an agreement to purchase all of the remaining shares of Pacific Rubiales Energy (TSX:PRE), setting off a flurry of speculation and a deep dive in the share price of Colombia’s largest private oil operator.

A local paper dedicated a full feature article to explain the hope generated by the El Alcaraván sugar cane ethanol plant announced in 2010 by Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) Bioenergy, and the impact its mismanagement left on the municipality of Puerto López, Meta.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has withdrawn its participation in a consortium formed to bid on offshore blocks in the Mexico Round 1 just days ahead of the presentation of bids.

Whether talking about the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar) or a planned ethanol plant of its affiliate Bioenergy, Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has shown a pattern of failing to keep its costs under control for large scale projects.