After much local fanfare to call for a modernization of the Barrancabermeja Refinery, Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) reaffirmed that it would enact projects in stages to improve the facilities.
The sea port of Coveñas has seen an increase in its storage capacity to 1.24mmbl following new tanks installed by Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) and its transport and logistics firm Cenit. The new tanks will also allow the Coveñas facility to export fuel oil.
Pacific Exploration & Production (TSX:PRE) says that its Puerto Bahía port facilities in Cartagena have officially started operations.
Issues like the lack of adequate roads and poor advancement of infrastructure safety mechanisms have caused some to consider Colombia the most expensive country for oil operations in the region.
If the most recent timeframe for the Cartagena Refinery (Reifcar) is correct, the facilities will be finished six years behind schedule, expected to begin operation end-2015 or the first quarter of 2016 and would be the most modern refinery in Latin America. If it is finished on time.
Spanish agro-industrial firm Riopaila-Castilla will inaugurate its US$133M sugarcane ethanol plant at the end of the month in the municipality of Zarzal, in Valle de Cauca.
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.
Even though the Farc has backed off and not attacked any pipelines since the start of its July 20 truce, the Coveñas/Caño Limón Pipeline (CCL) has suffered in the month of August due to the attacks over the last two months.
An ambitious project underway to make the Magdalena River navigable for large cargo convoys has the government promoting it for its general economic benefit. But the project does have its naysayers, who point to the long term environmental impact and question how much it will improve life in villages along Colombia’s longest river.
The transportation of crude in 2014 suffered a number of high profile attacks but the business remains solid, with Cenit and Ocensa leading the market in terms of sales
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