News and AnalysIs for

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.

Canacol Energy says it has started drilling an exploration well as part of its Oso Pardo I expedition project carried out jointly with ConocoPhillips.

Juan Gabriel Uribe, standing minister of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MinAmbiente) told an environmental forum in Orinoquia that he will introduce a bill to regulate seismic activity for oil production in the area.

The director of the ANLA said that plans are on track to have reference terms for the environmental licensing of nonconventional exploration and production by November.

This article is not about Interoil despite the title of the graph. Instead, Interoil’s recent May production announcement brought us to this graph which we thought illustrated perfectly a more universal issue.

After allegedly skipping out on repeated debates in the congressional Fifth Commission, congressional members are looking to police intervention to get the head of the Authority of Environmental Licenses Luz Helena Sarmiento to heed their summons.

Colombia’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MinAmbiente) said in a statement that it has issued regulations that will define the building of watershed councils, part of a larger plan to govern the use of water.