News and AnalysIs for

January production provided better than expected results as the number of attacks on infrastructure dropped, while the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) sent out a warning on natural gas policies and their long term consequences.

There is considerable pessimism in the Colombian industry and keeping with the pessimistic theme, we start this month’s edition with the results of our annual pulse survey.

We are in end-of-year vacations and, if only for a brief period, we will spend more time thinking about family (hopefully) than work.

This week Colombia’s Congress passed the government’s tax reform measure and it would take a miracle to prevent President Juan Manuel Santos from signing it.

This week November production was released and average crude production stayed just above a million barrels. The tax reform bill has made it out of the senate while rumors on Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) management change continue to distract from the NOC’s need to change pace.

We were tempted not to write this story since by now everyone remotely connected to the industry must have read or seen hundreds of stories. But we think there will be long-term consequences to the industry if this really is a structural change in prices.

This month, our exploration of Mexico continues with an article on the new regulatory framework. Our guest commentator is Valerie Dourdin of the International Migration Organization who has much experience dealing with the kind of social problems arising from the sudden development of a new project.

It is time for our quarterly look at stock prices and as always we shine a spotlight on Ecopetrol’s market performance.

Water is a current industry issue and we start this month with an extended interview with Jaime Checa who works for Hocol, but is also the head of the Colombian Petroleum Geologists and Geophysicists Association.