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Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) board of directors met last Friday (December 12) and confirmed the rumors: Javier Gutiérrez will step down as president of the NOC.

Ecopetrol detailed figures that illustrate the impact that the Barrancabermeja Refinery maintenance work has made on local hiring positions, while Equion says it is the first hydrocarbons company to receive certification for its labor practices. These and other stories in our periodic round up of Company Social Responsibility (CSR) reports.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) president Javier Gutiérrez made a visit to the Meta Department and discussed the NOC’s presence in the region, touching on local hiring, fracking use and production.

With only days before the next meeting of Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) board of directors, rumors abound that current president Javier Gutiérrez is on his way out, but who would replace him?

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) says that it has made a discovery of an accumulation of natural gas at its Orca-1 well in the offshore Tayrona block, the first discovery in the deep waters of the Colombian Caribbean.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) announced hiring trends of its contractors over the last three months, and said that of the nearly 30,000 posts generated, 90% of them went to local labor.

Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) dragging of its feet on the modernization of the Barrancabermeja Refinery has put not just the city’s economy on hold, but stunted development in the region, says the thesis of a Spanish researcher.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) is planning to detail its investment plan for 2015, and, with a falling oil price, its Capex budget will have to drop, as speculation swirls around what other measures the NOC might have to take because of the new price scenario.

The National Association of Financial Institutions projects that once the modernization project of the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar) is finished, it could translate into 3.9% annual growth for oil refining between 2015-2020 and lead growth in the production of petrochemicals and plastics.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has inaugurated a new water treatment facilities in Acacías, Meta, which the NOC says will allow it to quickly increase production in the Castilla field by an additional 30,000bd.