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Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has started the process of naming a new president for the Cartagena Refinery, with an international headhunt expected to bring an executive with precise knowledge of the petrochemical market and refining operations.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has announced that the Gunflint field has started producing 20,000bd, of which its US subsidiary has a 31.5% share, and the NOC highlighted the strategic nature of this sort of asset.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has proposed moving its Lorita-1 well, part of an exploration project, due to concerns from residents in the Municipality of Guamal, Meta. The NOC said that the project will go forward, although it has been discussed now for over three years.

The first warnings that Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) honeymoon after taking over the Rubiales field could be coming to a close have emerged. Community groups are complaining that few of the NOC’s contractors have socialized their projects with locals, and want a greater focus on local hiring.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) and the national government reached an agreement with the U’wa indigious community which allowed NOC personnel to restart and secure the Gibraltar Gas plant after weeks of U’wa occupation.

In Yaguará, Huila, Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) insists that it has hired 100% of its unskilled labor locally and 30% of skilled labor, but individuals in the community have maintained blockades affecting five wells for nearly two months.

We might have called this ‘Small is Beautiful’. Comparing the national public oil companies (NOCs) using published financial results for 2015, the larger ones are ‘profitability challenged’ and the smaller ones do better.

The Cartagena Refinery has reported all 34 of its production units are now up and running, completing the startup phase and the controversial expansion of its capacity.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) through its subsidiary Ecodiesel, has helped create 10,000 jobs and cleaner biofuels in Barrancabermeja thanks to an alliance with different palm oil firms in the Middle Magdalena.

Reduced drilling times, an efficient use of personnel and new technologies tested in other fields are some of the goals that Ecopetrol has put in place to reverse a declining production trend in the Rubiales field, according to its VP of production Hector Manosalva.