News and AnalysIs for

The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) and the Energy & Gas Regulation Commission (CREG) said they will regulate long term contracts signed in 2013 and 2014 so that they cannot rise faster than inflation.

Two senators have taken up the cause advanced by former Senate president, Senator Jose Name, which led to the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) and the Energy & Gas Regulation Commission (CREG) to freeze natural gas prices, citing the interests of the final consumer along the Caribbean coast.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy is preparing a decree which it says is necessary to stimulate the construction of gas pipelines through direct state intervention and tenders. But private industry says the problem is in the regulations.

A study from an energy consultancy found that the Colombian thermoelectric sector only has 34% of the natural gas it needs to purchase to produce the country’s energy during the El Niño weather phenomenon.

The growing demand for Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV) could quicken if new vehicles for the transport industry become available, but the process to receive tax benefits for the “cleaner” vehicles and questions on supply hold the market back.

The Energy and Gas Regulation Commission (CREG) rendered accounts to a public audience and released its management report, highlighting the new market manager for the natural gas industry.

With a growing fleet of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) and expanding domestic use of the fuel, an update of prices for 2016 by the Energy & Gas Regulation Commission (CREG) will affect far more than the traditional industrial consumers.

We frankly could not remember the last time we did this chart which summarizes the data by department (rather than basin or producer) and puts oil and gas production together (by converting gas to equivalent barrels). Useful for trivia contests on rainy Sunday afternoons with the kids or settling bets at the bar. But Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) and the Colombian government should think about some other implications as well.

Eduardo Pizano, the president of Colombia’s Natural Gas Association, Naturgas, urged the government to speed up the process to issue environmental licenses for the production of Coal Bed Methane (CBM), which he said could provide an alternative source to increase the country’s gas reserves.

The Mining Energy Planning Unit (UPME) director Jorge Valencia says that whether it is through parallel networks, capacity increases or new routes to accommodate imported gas, more natural gas infrastructure is required to serve growing demand.