The Senate’s Sixth Commission held a debate on the legal framework for oil companies regarding roads, and said that the current laws for rural backroads are not doing enough to serve the community in producing regions.
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.
Industry and community representatives complain about how poor road quality in Caquetá affects business, meanwhile a special hearing will be held to decide if Pacific E&P (TSX:PRE) is responsible for damage on the Corocoro-Cravo Norte highway. These and other stories in our periodic roundup of road-related issues.
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.
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