The National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) has placed restrictions on the disposal of produced water from the Rubiales field into a waterway with the same name, citing the environmental risk for the area surrounding Pacific Rubiales (TSX:PRE) namesake, and largest producing field.
Ecopetrol (NYSE:ECP) released its second quarter 2014 financial results last week on Thursday evening (July 31) and blamed a complex security situation and community blockades for a drop in production. Meanwhile on its earnings call on Tuesday (August 5) market analysts questioned the company’s plans to boost production in its top fields.
There is progress to expand and modernize the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar), and the company says that nine of the 15 plants that must be ready to finish this long delayed project have now been completed.
Pacific Rubiales Energy (TSX:PRE) and the Minister of Mines and Energy Amylkar Acosta clarified that its STAR secondary recovery project has been suspended, but not cancelled altogether, and the post-pilot study will determine its future.
The 2014 Round of auctions is over and the Colombian government is all smiles (at least in public) with 26 of 95 blocks assigned. Unlike the previous round, all the onshore winners are companies already doing business in Colombia.
After a long awaited meeting of Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) board of directors to discuss the use of Pacific Rubiales’s STAR secondary recovery technology, the companies issued a somber news release that says the pilot in Quifa will not continue. It would appear that the technology’s prospects are null for the Rubiales field, although neither are saying that yet.
The uncertainty surrounding the future of Colombia’s largest producing field, Rubiales, and the association contract between Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) and Pacific Rubiales (TSX:PRE), has workers currently assigned in the UTEN union with the later firm demanding more clarity about their future.
Another postponed decision and conflicting reports on the performance of Pacific Rubiales’ (TSX:PRE) secondary recovery technology Star have shrouded the project, which is the operator’s main bet for its namesake Rubiales field, in uncertainty.
Parex (TSX:PXT) is establishing a summer-time tradition of updating its reserves every June. This year is no exception and this time, appropriately, the figures incorporate its acquisition of Verano Energy Ltd (‘Verano’ is the Spanish word for ‘summer’.)
Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) and four unions that fill its ranks have started the process to reach a new collective bargaining agreement. The last one was in place from 2009-2014 and Ecopetrol is optimistic that an agreement can be reached during direct talks.
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