News and AnalysIs for

India’s Oil and Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan made a visit to Colombia as part of a strategy to increase its imports from Latin America, opening the possibility of building a cutting edge refinery to help guarantee its supply.

Responding to a report from the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) think tank UPME which criticized subsidy support and tax breaks for biofuels, the industry association Fedebiocombustible responded, defending the use of ethanol and biofuel mixtures and rejecting the notion that it receives such benefits.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) says prices will remain stable, while its own think tank questions the cost of subsidies to keep the price from rising.

Yesterday we asked where Colombia’s supply of gas was coming from and today’s graph gives a hint.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) says that gasoline prices will stay at current levels while diesel experiences a small decrease, blaming factors such as a high price of ethanol and taking noticeable shift in tone since last month’s reduction.

Former Colombian Central Bank head, Miguel Urrutia published a spirited defensive of high gasoline taxes. It appears the Colombian government is listening.

Despite the well-documented glut of oil in the US – which has (depending on viewpoint) contributed or caused the dramatic fall in oil prices since mid-2014 – Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) actually increased its exports to the US in 4Q14.

Both national and local leaders have taken to talk of an opportunity to strengthen other sectors outside of oil and create a more diversified economy, and many planned projects, including a micro-refinery in Meta, will have to be reconsidered. These and others stories in our periodic review of the impact of the fall in oil prices.

The association of propane gas distributors Gasnova reiterated its alarms that Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) is taking measures to limit the supply of propane gas in Colombia to benefit its financial results, which it says will have a grave impact on the poorest populations in the country.

The Network for Tax Justice has filed a lawsuit to anull the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) resolution that defines the formula used to determine the country´s fuel prices.