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India’s Oil and Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan made a visit to Colombia as part of a strategy to increase its imports from Latin America, opening the possibility of building a cutting edge refinery to help guarantee its supply.

MinMinas asked for comments on its 2015 action plan but gave the public only two business days to do so. We were surprised by the distribution of importance but maybe we should not have been.

With figures on the development of 6,770 royalty projects from 2012-14, the fact that 77.14% of projects have advanced to the hiring of services is being heralded by the National Federation of Departments (FND) while the Controller General is worried about those that have not advanced.

The Minister of Mines and Energy Tomás González attended an investment promotion event greeted attendees with a message the Colombia has clear rules and vast potential for unconventional and offshore projects.

A recent study from the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) think tank UPME says that annual royalties could drop by as much as CoP$5.3T (US$2.18B) by 2024.

The former Minister of Mines and Energy Hernán Martínez has been fingered by the Controller General for his role in contract adjustments that allegedly cost the government CoP$60B (US$27M), along with the former director of mining contractor Ingeominas, Mario Ballesteros, and mining firm Prodeco. A word of warning for those in the oil and gas industry hoping to see E&P contracts adjusted because of the current crisis.

Despite a slight increase in the price of oil and a series of incentives offered by the government to support the oil industry, more support is needed to keep production from falling in the near future, says the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP).

In a visit that included the Casanare governor Marco Tulio Ruíz, the royalty investment coordinator of the National Planning Department Camilo Lloreda made a visit to different projects that have been funded by royalties, and said he was left with “a very good impression”.

Responding to a report from the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) think tank UPME which criticized subsidy support and tax breaks for biofuels, the industry association Fedebiocombustible responded, defending the use of ethanol and biofuel mixtures and rejecting the notion that it receives such benefits.

The Meta Department government has frozen more than half of its planned spending on projects that were to be funded by royalties as it prepares for a significant decrease in royalty funds in the next years. This and other stories in our periodic roundup of royalty related issues.