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Senate President Luis Fernando Velasco accused the government of charging illegal taxes in its fuel price formula even after they were struck down by a Constitutional Court ruling and alleged citizens are essentially subsidizing Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC).

An urgent agreement is needed to reactivate the oil industry. Colombia might have potential for oil, but it is not an oil country. This must be taken into account when forming competitive strategies to attract investment, said Juan Carlos Rodríguez Esparza, president of the Colombian Oil Engineers Association (ACIPET).

The National Agency of Environmental Licenses (ANLA) will be headed up by one of its current functionaries, Claudia Victoria González, after a previous candidate named by the Minister of Environment Luis Gilberto Murillo was ruled out, leading to public tensions.

The scandal surrounding the Cartagena Refinery (Reficar) might have fallen to a secondary status, but continues to make headlines. A Senate hearing last month, accusations of environmental damage and a full audit by the General Controller’s office have all taken shape over recent weeks.

When the World Economic Forum opens its Latin American conference in Medellín this week, the Finance Minister Mauricio Cárdenas will unveil “the new economy” of Colombia, which is no longer dependent on oil prices or minerals, but instead on large agroindustry projects and tourism.

The restructuring process of Pacific E&P will take place in the Canadian legal system after both US and Colombian authorities announced they would support this process, although Colombian regulators have ordered the firm to guarantee payments for its Colombian creditors.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) has announced that Carlos Andrés Cante will replace María Isabel Ulloa, as the Vice Minister of Mines, and will continue her work in consolidating a unified national mining policy.

The Centro Democratico party of Senator Alvaro Uribe kicked off a “firmaton”, a campaign to collect signatures and a call for civil resistance, just as the peace talks and the legal instrument which will be used to approve a final agreement reaches a critical moment.

While the country’s main producing departments, Meta and Casanare had an RRR below 1.0, lower-producing departments had even worse performance, some important ones even were negative.

Community members from Íquira, Huila have called for the environmental license of Telpico to be revoked launching a number of accusations against the process. The local environmental management agency, CAM, is investigating and said that the local ordinance laws (POT) are appropriate for local leaders to control extractive projects.