The consequences of the fall in oil prices look more severe with each passing month, as producing municipalities have suffered a perfect storm of corruption, poor management, regulatory changes, dwindling royalties and high resident expectations.
The legal representative of 20% of Pacific E&P (TSX:PRE) investors, Jaime Granados, promised legal action in Colombia if company management enacted a debt for share swap which could mean a total loss of value for the company’s shareholders.
Pacific E&P (TSX:PRE) said that it has been formally notified of the Colombian Constitutional Court’s decision to suspend operations near the Venecedor Piriri indigenous community in the Quifa block. It said it would suspend operations in this area, but that it would not materially affect its production.
Colombian press speculates that President Juan Manuel Santos could designate a new Minister of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) this week. But the process to find a replacement to Tomás González in the midst of an energy supply crisis and constant investigations has not proven easy.
The national government has set the limits of eight páramos, or high mountain tundra, to protect water sources which it says supply more than three million people. The protective order affects a total of 100,000 hectares of land in different parts of the country. This and other environmental stories in our periodic roundup.
A group of politicians in Meta have demanded explanations on the status of a planned refinery in Meta and how CoP$17B (US$5.6M) have been spent on the refinery, which still has not started the construction phase.
Some of the changes are detailed in the supply plan of the Energy Mining Planning Unit (UPME), which has identified the priority projects that it will tender directly, so that they are executed more quickly and not bottlenecked by market issues.
The Chamber of Oil Goods and Services (Campetrol) said that benefits offered by authorities to encourage exploration activity and make contracts more flexible are not having their desired effect, and more should be done to ensure exploration is restarted.
Colombia’s first regasification plant, located in the Cartagena, is 70% finished and should be ready in December 2016. The general manager of the facilities explained why the project has taken so long and the process still needed to get it up and running.
Our last estimate of Colombia’s 2015 reserves and reserve life was made on March 7, 2016, before Pacific E&P (TSC:PRE) reported. We now have reports from companies representing 87% of 2014 reserves. Since these are the only companies we expect to report publicly, this is the best estimate base we are going to get.
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