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The government has received substantial political pressure to lower fuel prices, but Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) says it will continue to produce fuels despite a price that cuts into their margins and in turn, their ability to invest.

In Orito, Putumayo a group of around 100 community leaders, activists and organizers met with Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) to discuss the alleged contamination of local rivers and streams, but considered the NOC’s explanations insufficient.

In order to offer current and potential suppliers an updated panorama into different aspects of the oil industry Ecopetrol has agreed with The University of Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano to create a “Supplier’s University”, and will subsidize the cost during the first stage of the project.

Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) transport and logistics spinoff Cenit has celebrated its first year of operations, and hailed the completion of the Bicentennial Pipeline as the highlight for this first year.

With an eye on the nearly US$10.6B that Ecopetrol has to invest over 2014 in different aspects of its business, the Colombian Chamber of Infrastructure (CCI) has formed an alliance with the NOC to ensure the hydrocarbons investment plan brings benefits for the sector and oil producer alike.

Peru’s NOC Petroperú has announced it will float 49% of its shares to public markets, opening the state run firm to private capital. What lessons are in this for Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC)?

Investments to meet emissions standards set by the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable development have amounted to a CoP52B (US$26.4M) investment into Ecopetrol’s refinery business, only considering the Barrancabermeja Refinery.

As Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) shareholders go into today’s Annual Meeting they will probably be concerned about the dividend. They may be calmer than they might have been about the share price since it is up nearly US$5 from late February although still below where it closed at the end of 2013. They might complain about the refinery business. We think they should ask questions about growth.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) invested CoP$1.3T (US$645M) in environmental projects during 2013, which it says is the highest amount dedicated to these ends in the last eight years.

The growing demand for diesel and Colombia’s environmental requirements for the fuel, paired with a limited internal capacity of Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) to produce this fuel could mean an increase of imports of the fuel by 7.4% in 2014.