Preliminary figures show a sharp drop in net foreign investment of 33.9% to US$7.146B from January to May 2015, led by a decrease in investment in the oil and mining sector, Colombia’s Central Bank has revealed.
Ocad approves four projects in Tolima, meanwhile the mayor of Yopal requests additional funding for development projects. These and other stories in our periodic roundup.
A number of companies have already applied for benefits offered by the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) thorough the Agreement 02, and the entity’s president Mauricio de la Mora says another round of measures are being planned.
Offshore is an important frontier for the Colombian industry, but the high costs and long time before a successful find sees commercial production weaken its value for the country and industry, so more incentives for onshore exploration are needed, say experts and industry players.
The General Controller’s office has entered the debate on the supply of natural gas, warning that the country must have a clear strategy in order not to suffer a loss of self-sufficiency in the near future.
In a change of strategy the USO says it has direct workers with Pacific Rubiales (TSE:PRE) that have decided to affiliate themselves with the USO, and the union has submitted a list of demands.
The Minister of Mines and Energy Tomás González made a visit to Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) offshore operations as part of the central government’s recent prioritization of the sector.
While industrial sectors call for an open bilateral negotiations of gas rates, electrical energy generators say that their needs are being cast aside to accommodate other sectors.
A mix of social organizations, municipal governments, the departmental government and control entities such as the Regional Controller met in Puerto Asís and signed a regional peace agreement in light of the human rights violations which have taken place in the conflict-ridden department of Putumayo.
We reported on a MinMinas press release about reserves and quoted their figure of 6.4 years of remaining oil production. But we would have been more correct to ignore the Ministry’s number and say there are at least 8 years of self-sufficiency.