News and AnalysIs for

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.

The Colombian Association of Oil Engineers (ACIPET) issued a statement regarding the reversal of Hupecol’s environmental license in La Macarena, and warned of a growing stigmatism of the oil industry and its activities. The result is heightened legal uncertainty and a lack of respect for the industry’s professionals.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) has the unfortunate claim of being the ministry with the largest share of controversy in this current government, but the Ministry of Environment (MinAmbiente) is not far behind.

While there have been advances in mapping the potential and developing regulations to accommodate unconventional production in Colombia, critical parts of the regulatory framework are still missing and high costs / low oil prices do not help.