The opposition to fracking in Colombia has been simmering for some time, but reached a new level last week after Santander’s Departmental Assembly unanimously voted against the technique in their territory.
Iván Cortés, the manager of Llanopetrol, the controversial firm created by former Meta Governor Alan Jara to build a refinery in the department, took to the press to defend the project, and assured that it is no white elephant.
A work team of experts from the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) attended the Cesar Department Assembly to encourage dialogue and address concerns from local authorities.
The president of the association of fuel stations Fedispetrol Álvaro Younes said that contrary to what the government’s formula has yielded, fuel prices for both gasoline and diesel should be falling, and be at least CoP$300-400 (US$0.09-0.12) less per gallon.
The Minister of Finance (MinHacienda) Mauricio Cárdenas has his eyes on royalty savings, and is urging lawmakers to pass a bill that would allow the government to use the CoP$10T (US$3.25B) that had been set aside from royalty payments. This and other royalty-related stories in our periodic summary.
A report from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said that the government has been able to avoid the worst consequences of a fall in oil prices, but that with a price of US$60/barrel there are worrying signs for the midterm future.
For the first time in several months, the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) has announced a change in fuel prices for the month of August: gasoline will rise slightly while diesel will fall, which the ministry says is a result of biofuels costs.
The International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) issued a report blasting the environmental and social impact which it alleges Pacific E&P has caused in Meta, and it was picked up in national media.
The explosive growth of blockades, protests and social conflicts has a direct impact on the finances of the regions responsible for them, and a recent study from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) sought to quantify how much these conflicts are costing.
The head of the National Environmental Licensing Agency (ANLA) Claudia Victoria González Hernández and MinAmbiente Luis Gilberto Murillo made a visit to Cartagena as part of a national campaign to meet with the teams of regional environmental entities.
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