The municipal council members of Villavicencio have sent a formal request to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to debate issues surrounding hydrocarbons exploration and extraction in the surrounding area.
A decree expected in late July will reportedly shorten the environmental licensing process for small changes to conventional projects that already have gained approval.
Colombian oil producer Raven held a socialization meeting to present the project diagnostic for a pipeline that will connect its operations with the Bicentennial Pipeline.
Delays in environmental licensing are seen as the main cause in an 8% drop in rentals of perforating drills in January-May 2013.
Oil extractor Equion has refuted accusations from the community action board president of El Morro, Jorge Castro, saying that it is complying with environmental measures to protect the water and that no one has invested more in the roads than it has.
More than 40 points of the Catatumba pipeline were detonated over the weekend creating an environmental emergency as crude flows into the surrounding area.
Following reports that seismic explorations in the foothills of Casanare were affecting on local water supplies, even drying up rivers, two of the oil companies operating in the region have said they are completely within the law and the tests are low impact.
Colombia’s minister of mines and energy Federico Renjifo told a renewable energy forum that the government is willing and needs to develop mechanisms to spur a greater use of clean and renewable energies in its energy grid.
Using methane gas derived from the treating of waste water from a palm oil refiner, the company CI Tequedama is able to create clean energy for its own use and sell the overage to the national energy network.
Seismic tests to explore the eastern foothills of Casanare are allegedly affecting the water supply in rivers and streams and could impact local communities, says an environmental NGO.