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Development wells may be dropping but large companies with mature fields are turning to ‘intelligent wells’ to maintain production and reserves.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) says that the fall in oil prices has forced it to suspend wells temporarily in the Caño Sur field, in Puerto Gaitán, Meta. A local operations manager said it has already filed the request with the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH).

Local authorities, unión leaders and sympathetic lawmakers have convened to call on the national government to declare a state of economic emergency in Barrancabermeja and to write a strategic Conpes document, looking at Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) to compensate for canceling its plan to modernize the local refinery.

After having cut CoP$2.8T from operating costs in 2015, Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) announces further cuts for 2016 which are expected to save CoP$1.6T (US$0.5B).

It was already burning, and you should not blame the firefighters, said Ecopetrol president Juan Carlos Echeverry in response to questions regarding the role of current ministers and government officials in the overruns of the Cartagena Refinery. This and other stories in our update on this matter.

The director of the National Planning Department (DNP) and Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) board member Simon Gaviria says that the NOC is preparing a dividend proposal that looks to protect its investment grade rating, and avoid being classified as a junk.

The Colombian Chamber of Oil Goods and Services (Campetrol) published an analysis of how Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) exploration budget has shifted to market conditions over the last several years, and urged the NOC to step up exploratory efforts and spending.

The USO said that its presence has been critical to support community residents in Monterrey, Aguazul and Tauramena who are protesting Ecopetrol’s decision to eliminate transportation for contractor workers, which it says is another sign of the NOC using the oil price crisis as an excuse to weaken worker rights.

USO affiliated workers at the Barrancabermeja have put up the greatest resistance to Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) cost cutting measures, with a continued run of protests and blockades affecting the area since mid-December. An unstructured dialogue continues for now.

Ecopetrol has unveiled a number of different road and small infrastructure projects, as well as a “bio-health park” and aqueduct. These and other Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) related stories in our periodic summary.