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Parex has held a press conference with local media outlets and looks to convince the local community that its plan to drill exploration wells in the Tinije Lagoon will be more environmentally safe than Spain’s Cepcolsa, who abandoned the project after community pressure.

The surrounding region of Paz de Ariporo is suffering a severe drought that has led to widespread deaths of native species and livestock, and the local press is speculating that the boom of the mining-energy sector is to blame.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) invested CoP$1.3T (US$645M) in environmental projects during 2013, which it says is the highest amount dedicated to these ends in the last eight years.

Citiing a UN agreement to protect 17% of the country’s land mass, authorities are looking to add eight more parks in La Guajira, Arauca, Meta, and Serranía de San Lucas, thus prohibiting any sort of extractive activities in the area.

Ecopetrol has a number of programs including bridge improvements and educational programs, while Raven says its ready to invest in social programs and Llanopetrol is backing students for petrochemical studies. These and other Corporate Social Responsibility programs to make local press lately.

The public hearing to grant the environmental license for the Llanos 10 exploratory drilling project came to a close, and with no fanfare, or public condemnation of the project, authorities or grandiose accusations.

Mansarovar Energy has abandoned a seismic exploration project near the Villavicencio municipality after opposition from local authorities and community members.

Authorities are considering registering two additional properties as nature reserves, one of which specifically to counteract the possibility of more seismic exploration and exploratory drilling, citing the impact on water resources.

Two reports of oil spill have reached local press over the last couple of days, one involving a Perenco owned pipeline in Casanare and the other involving Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) in Meta.

Oil producer Petromont socialized a exploratory drilling project in the Llanos 10 block, where it presented the project to members of 11 villages affected by the drilling in Arauca and Casanare. Environmental authorities were on hand as observers.