Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) is unique among Colombia-focused operators for many reasons but one is that it is the country’s only integrated oil company, lacking just retail distribution for it to cover the entire value chain. Luckily, the NOC publishes results by Line of Business (LoB) that allow us to understand what is happening below the top-line.
This past week, ANH head Orlando Velandia reiterated 900 mbd as his 2018 target for crude oil production. Unfortunately, February production also came out this week and that was only 823 mbd. Recently, I came across an article we wrote just over a year ago (late January 2017) and we seem to be in exactly the same spot we were then.
Just over a month ago we looked at the UPME’s latest demand forecasts, focusing on the potential supply shortfall. This time, we look a little deeper at demand especially where it comes from, both in terms of sector and region.
The Colombian Petroleum Engineers Association (ACIPET) has been a vocal advocate for rational debate on many of the industry’s social and environmental issues. Late last week they issued this press release on the fracking debate and kindly gave us permission to produce an English translation.
Certainly, one of this year’s top stories so far has been the resumption of attacks by the ELN after the end-of-year truce. But after a particularly violent first week, things have settled down somewhat.
There was much prior speculation about perverse outcomes and a colossal logistical failure but in the end the expected happened and the top two ranked Presidential candidates made it through their respective primaries. The elections for Congress and Senate were more interesting.
We have published a number of renewable energy articles lately and one is coming up this week. No, I have not suddenly discovered my true vocation as an environmentalist and no, we are not shifting HCC’s focus from oil and gas to the broader energy market.
A few weeks ago, the ACP published a study on operating costs, which we thought would be of considerable interest to our readers. The Association has graciously given us permission to translate it to English and publish.
Last week there was a minor flurry about an American thinktank putting Colombia on a list of ‘risky’ spots for petroleum investments. Timely, considering our article tying to quantify ‘risk’ which was really quantifying ‘impact’. I think it was overdone, but it still got me thinking about what risks are the most relevant.
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