Colombia’s Auditor General — known in Spanish as the Contralora — is supposed to be responsible for assuring that the nation’s resources are well spent and that revenues reflect economic activity. Lately however, Sandra Morelli Rico has become concerned that the Environment Ministry (MinAmbiente) has not been sufficiently vigilant on environmental issues, especially in the extractive sector. We commented on her letter about non-conventional hydrocarbons extraction here. On Monday, October 22nd the office published a report criticizing a number of projects in the extractive and energy sectors for reasons which — while they will play well to certain sectors of public opinion — in some cases appear to lack a basis in fact.
The National Environmental Licensing Agency (ANLA) has issued a press release encouraging comments on a specification document for its new GeoDataBase system. The system’s goal is to unify all the environmental information that companies and the ANLA need to process an application. The idea, as described last week at the National Hydrocarbons Agency convention in Cartagena is to simplify and thus speed licensing and minimize requests for additional information.
We were very disappointed with National Environmental Licensing Agency head Luz Helena Sarmiento’s last minute participation in a ministerial panel yesterday. The industry leaders we spoke to afterward were perhaps even more disappointed. Maybe she just did not want to anticipate her scheduled presentation for today. This time she came out full of specific information on process improvements and did so full of self-deprecating humor that had a potentially hostile crowd laughing along.
October 11, 2012 From a MinMinas press release. Translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia
October 10, 2012
From a MinAmbiente Press Release. Translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia
From a Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MinAmbiente) press release. Translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.
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
Extracted from an Environment Ministry press release. Translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.
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.
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