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While 2015 has been marked by the fall in oil prices, a report from BanColombia predicts that the full brunt of the fall will be felt in 2016, as the government’s austerity programs start to hit the overall economy.

Coal miner Drummond says that it could receive its environmental license “at any moment” to start production of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) in La Guajira, where a concession dispute with the coal miner of the same block, Cerrejón had kept the project from moving forward.

Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) president Juan Carlos Echeverry believes the main challenge of Colombia’s oil industry is to attract and maintain investment. And he stuck to the government’s game plan: that the best way to do this is through achieving peace, not lowering taxes on companies.

The recent Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) congress brought experts from all over the world, and a number of them offered a common theme in their presentations: to stay competitive the regulatory framework and fiscal policy must adapt to the industry.

The Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) used its recent congress to push for a tax reform that would address a heightened fiscal load on companies in order to improve investment, but President Juan Manuel Santos has ruled it out for 2015.

Those of us who grew up in Anglo-Saxon political systems with their long tradition of cabinet solidarity were no doubt shocked by Colombian Vice President German Vargas Lleras’ speech to the industry at the Colombian Petroleum Association’s 50^th anniversary conference. In closing, he launched a virulent attack on his cabinet colleagues for not doing enough to maintain government revenues from the sector. The targets of his ire, MinMinas González and MinHacienda Cárdenas spoke later that morning.

The National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) invited an international energy expert to address the industry and highlighted a need to keep regulations flexible and operators efficient, and added that oil prices cannot continue to be blamed for all of the issues.

The mining industry suffers from many of the same problems as hydrocarbons, and a group formed to encourage dialogue between different sectors of society on the mining industry presented its first results after working together to reach a consensus. We ask if it makes sense to think about the same for oil and gas.

The hydrocarbons sector and authorities must adapt and consolidate in the current price scenario, which according to the president of the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) Francisco Lloreda is not going to change soon, and requires a new approach from that used in the past.

Yet another question from a subscriber on how Colombian E&P companies have reacted to the decline in oil prices. The answer for CAPEX is ‘fairly dramatically’ except perhaps for the NOC. And as the car-miles/gallon disclaimer says “Results may vary”.