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The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) announced a decree that formalizes a move to make tax free zones for offshore production blocks, and also announced tax benefits for renewable energy.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) continues to analyze its association contracts which are about to expire, and says that if it bolsters the company’s financial standing, it could repeat its decision made at the Rubiales-Piri and revert contracts. Around 45 association contracts between 2015-2041 could be reviewed.

Emboldened by the recent decision for Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) to directly operate the Rubiales field, the USO has now taken direct issue with the NOC president Juan Carlos Echeverry, who the union claims is dismantling the company to be privatized and targeting workers in favor of multinationals.

Gases de Occidente says that it is prepared to invest US$50M in a 111km pipeline from Valle del Cauca to Buenaventura to improve the natural gas offer, which will take three years to build, but is still awaiting approval from the Energy and Gas Regulation Commission (CREG) on its planned rates.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy has released a number of measures designed to improve the supply of energy and curb its demand in light of the El Niño weather phenomenon.

The president of the Colombian Natural Gas Association Eduardo Pizano says that there must be an emphasis on finding new gas to meet the demand, and that without these discoveries it will be impossible to justify more distribution infrastructure.

A national paper has published a report pointing out the importance of creating stimulus measures to invest in secondary recovery, which would allow vital reserve growth from Colombia’s existing fields.

Led by the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) president Mauricio de la Mora and Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) president Juan Carlos Echeverry, Colombia was home to the II World Forum of Enhanced Recovery, which included 25 international experts visiting to detail their experiences in the technology.

Both gasoline and diesel will drop in price in the month of November, driven by a fall in international prices and the exchange rate, although biodiesel prices continue to counteract this downward trend.

The USO says that its effort and persistence to pressure Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) to directly operate the Rubiales field amounts to a historic achievement for the union. Now it has called for workers in the field to join the USO and plans to increase its pressure to carry out the modernization of the Barrancabermeja Refinery.