News and AnalysIs for

Bottom Line: Information on new player in Caguan-Putumayo basin. Looking at new exploration and wells closed in the 1980s due to low oil prices.

Bottom Line: The Colombian government’s decision to set aside 20.5M hectares of strategic mining reserves continues to generate controversy.

Bottom Line: According to the victims, Ecopetrol has failed to adequately respond for a pipeline explosion six months ago. This kind of story is not helpful for the image of an industry already perceived to be not in the interests of ordinary Colombians.

Bottom Line: Prodeco is a major coal producer and the article demonstrates how one company approaches its relationship with the community.

Bottom Line: Despite much heralded security improvements in recent years, some areas of the country remain difficult to control.

Bottom Line: An example of the strong measures being taken by environmental authorities even when a company is proactive with its plans.

Bottom Line: Ecopetrol have found a new and more efficient way to recover oil sludge from storage tanks. There is no information about whether the company would license the technology.

June 18, 2012 Local newspaper ElPais.com.co reports that the critical road from the Panamerican Highway and the city of Cali to the main port of Buenaventura has not been accepted by Port authorities due to its poor condition.

June 22, 2012 Business newspaper LaRepublica.com reports that, in its budget for this year, Ecopetrol set a ‘conservative’  WTI oil price per barrel of of U.S. $ 70. Considering recent price declines, this gives the company and the government some room to maneuver.

June 21, 2012 National newspaper ElTiempo.com quoted the head of the Large-Scale Mining Association, Claudia Jiménez Jaramillo as saying the growth of the mining locomotive needs stability in the rules precisely at a time when the global economy is in crisis and when registering declines in international prices of some commodities such as coal and gold.