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The National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) president Mauricio de la Mora outlined the entity’s goals in a meeting with the business sector and said that it expects 28 to 32 exploratory wells this year.

While Caribbean offshore blocks have received attention and been the site of recent discoveries, Pacific blocks have failed to gain the same interest and results. Now the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) is looking to hold a competitive process in 2016 to find operators.

The National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) is preparing another set of regulatory changes, Agreement 05, which builds on past adjustments designed to make the sector more flexible in the new price scenario. This implements the change to directly assign blocks and could also include even more benefits for offshore contracts.

Led by the Casanare Chamber of Commerce (CCC), 12 business leaders from the local Oil & Gas Services Cluster participated in a trade mission to the United States to explore new markets and make business ties in hopes of stimulating their business.

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.