The USO oil workers union says that the Barrancabermeja Refinery modernization project not start in 2015 despite promises last year from Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC). The NOC would neither confirm nor deny the rumors.
Colombia’s comptroller Sandra Morelli was back making rounds with radio stations this week while visiting Cartagena, criticizing what she says is the “poor planning” which has dogged the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar) project.
The governor of the Norte de Santander Department Édgar Díaz Contreras has proposed the construction of a micro-refinery with a capacity of 40,000bd to produce fuels for the region which is looking for alternatives after Venezuelan fuel sales were suspended last May.
A local newspaper in Putumayo published an opinion piece from a local community representative that questions the department’s ability to handle increased oil production, with doubts surrounding the authority’s ability to react to spills and its limited infrastructure.
Continued security problems have the Arauca Department authorities and law enforcement officials scrambling to properly assign personnel and resources to the task of protecting the strategic Coveñas / Caño Limón and Bicentennial pipelines.
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.
A proposal from the National Infrastructure Agency (ANI) to route tanker-trucks carrying crude from the Rubiales fields through the municipalities of Maní and Aguazul has a number of local officials in arms over the possible ramification of the increased tanker traffic.
The Caño Limon –Coveñas Pipeline, an asset of Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC), announced the awarding of the maintenance contract to a new operator, and while some in the local press are interested in the opportunities this may bring, others have rejected it as a change of façade and nothing else.
The Regional Autonomous Corporation of the Upper Magdalena (CAM) has fined seven transportation companies for environmental damage from oil spills, not having a contingency plan and non-compliance with preventative measures
Pacific Rubiales Energy (TSX:PRE) says it has finished and launched an electrical transmission line that runs from the hydro-electrical center in Chivor, Boyacá to its flagship field Rubiales in Meta, which it says will save US$100M in operational costs annually.
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