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Recommendations for contractors with inflated prices, a passing of blame between Presidents Juan Manuel Santos and Alvaro Uribe and accusations of prostitutes winning contracts have taken the scandal surrounding the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar) to an all new level.

One of the initiatives of the former president of the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) Mauricio de la Mora is to allow international investment funds to partner with oil companies or contractors to create new investment, and the regulations to allow it are nearly ready.

The National Agency of Environmental Licenses (ANLA) made a mistake by granting an environmental license to Hupecol for a production block some 68km from the Caño Cristales river, but rectified its error by revoking the license, said President Juan Manuel Santos.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) reported that once gain fuel prices will start to increase after successive drops in recent periods. The international price of fuel and increased biofuel costs were cited as the reason.

The new Minister of Mines and Energy Germán Arce gave his first interview to national press, addressing controversy surrounding the electrical energy offer and the issuing of environmental licenses for sustainable projects. He also defended fracking.

While the national and local governments continue to roll out the natural gas network, there are still many municipalities functioning with propane, which suffers from higher prices and an informal distribution network. No quick solution is in sight.

Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) former president Javier Gutiérrez defended his actions involving the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar) while at the helm of the NOC, and said without the controls he enacted, the cost could have been worse.

Luis Gilberto Murillo has been named by President Juan Manuel Santos as the new Ministry of Environment. What will the former governor of Chocó and a mining engineer with formal training in the USSR bring to this embattled position?

USO president Cézar Loza warned that Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) president Juan Carlos Echeverry and its board of directors have a plan to dismember the NOC and sell it off like the government did with energy producer Isagén.

Could Colombia use unconventional blocks to attract new investment, despite the low price of oil? As unlikely as it seems, there is already one successful example.