News and AnalysIs for

Following accusations that its contracting process of transportation firms is excluding local, small and medium sized companies Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has suspended the contract process for two months while it reviews the terms and conditions.

This Friday, January 31 Pacific Rubiales (TSX:PRE) and Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) will meet to review the future of the production contract on the Rubiales field, which is set to expire in May 2016 and has been a lightning rod for political grandstanding in the last few months.

Colombia’s association of transportation firms Asecarga has accused Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) of awarding contracts to select firms and not holding transparent, open processes to select a contractor. The association has sent a formal request to the nation’s inspector general Alejandro Ordóñez to investigate the matter.

The Minister of Mines and Energy Amylkar Acosta has ruled out a new price freeze on diesel while transportation associations and fuel retailers repeat demands that the cost must drop.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has suspended its NFE Backland project, involving a new well in the Cupiagua field, after it received ‘undue pressure’ from the community over local hiring and its social investment, which the NOC says exceeded expectations.

There was lots of speculation leading up to the Ecopetrol (NYSE:ECP) Special Assembly today. However it was anticlimactic in the final result.

A corruption scandal involving a pair of US former PetroTiger executives who paid an now ex-Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) engineer more than US$300,000 to win a nearly US$50M contract has rattled Colombia’s oil industry, and the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) issued a thorough release in which it establishes the engineer was working as a rogue and that the NOC is another victim.

Following a blockade that limited access to the Rubiales field by local truckers that want a larger role in the transport of crude, Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) has announced a new contractor selection process designed to open opportunities for local suppliers.

Ecopetrol’s board recently approved the company’s CAPEX budget as we reported yesterday in an article that focused on the Refining and Petrochemical business. Today we step back to look at the panorama.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) announced its Capex plan for 2014, with the NOC focusing nearly all of its US$10.6B within Colombia and its wholly owned projects as the firm looks to keep production levels in line with government goals in an election year.