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In a press release, Canacol updated its exploration activities in Colombia and plans for the rest of the calendar year.  The company is one of only four listed on the Colombian stock exchange. It has yet to publish its calendar 2Q12 results but since this is the company’s fiscal 4Q12 period, it has until the end of this month legally to do so. The company has been subject to sale rumors over the past few months. Last week the company published its fiscal 2012 update to reserves announcing that these had nearly doubled although most of this was due to the acquisition of properties in Ecuador. Organic growth due to Colombian properties was a still healthy 38%. Some key items:

The Colombian Petroleum Workers Union (USO) has called for an industry-wide strike or day of protest in the oil-important department of Meta on October 3, 2012. The union is in a bitter battle with CEPCOLSA and its subcontractor Termtecnica Coindustrial but has been trying to widen the dispute to include Pacific Rubiales. A few weeks ago, it told reporters from RCN Radio that riots in the city of Puerto Gaitan were directed at the company, something that spokesperson Ferderico Restrepo had to deny publicly. The union says the march, strike or day of protest has the goal of raising awareness on the following:

Canacol reported that the company’s proven reserves (1P) increased by 98% over fiscal year-end (June) 2011. As the chart shows, this was primarily due to the acquisition of contracts in Ecuador (3.2MMbbl) although Colombian reserves still grew a substantial 38% year-over-year.

In a Global Energy Development PLC press release, the company announced its plans for both conventional and non-conventional operations in Colombia, through its subsidiary Colombia Energy Development.

Colombia’s two largest oil and gas companies scored well in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index-World as compiled by the Swiss firmSustainable Asset Management (SAM). In a press release, Ecopetrol announced that

Petroamerica reports in a press release that the Las Maracas-4 well Los Ocarros Block Llanos Basin was producting 1,500 bpd of 30 degree API oil. They say it could produce 2,000 bpd but the trucks cannot get in and out fast enough because of a rig coming in for exploratory drilling and a workover rig moving out.

Recently, the National Environmental Licensing Agency granted the country’s first license for non-conventional hydrocarbons. The testing will take place in the villages known as Dominguito and Patiño in the municipality of Buenavista, Boyacá in a region better known for emeralds and dairy cattle than oil and gas. The block is known as Chiquinquira and is operated by Nexen which has adjacent exploration blocks in the same high plateau region.

We didn’t see the original article — it has been wiped off the website — but apparently Bloomberg reported yesterday in an interview with Luz Helena Sarmiento, head of the National Environmental Licensing Agency (ANLA), that in June of this year Pacific Rubiales had been denied an environmental license for Quifa North West, part of the company’s second biggest oil field.

From a MinAmbiente Press Release. Translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia Prior to the community meeting, the Minister Juan Gabriel Uribe, director of Anla, Luz Helena Sarmiento, and a group of congressmen did a flyby by the Quimbo.

Yesterday violent protests in Puerto Gaitan, Meta left 3 dead. RCN Radio — which usually takes a “right-of-center” stance — reported that the protests were because Pacific Rubiales had “failed to deliver on its commitments”. UPDATE: On September 17th, Pacific Rubiales Corporate Affairs Director, Frederico Restrepo told RCN Radio that the protests were not directed at the company but caused by the death of a small child in a traffic accident with a policeman.