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Pacific Rubiales (TSX:PRE) president Jose Francisco Arata published an opinion piece in the magazine of a national paper and talked about what would contribute to a stable, developed economy and industry in 2074.

Colombia’s Association of Natural Gas, Naturgas, held its annual conference last week in Cartagena and drove a message home of growth and potential for the industry. Here we publish a summary of some of the highlights.

The School of International Affairs of Columbia University is conducting a study of Colombia’s mining and energy boom and the best practices that the country, and extractive companies can adopt to best take advantage of this boom.

This week the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) issued a number of statements covering policy items, including a lesson on international price trends, a message of support for the mining and energy sector from President Juan Manuel Santos and a forecast that fuel prices would fall.

Faithful readers will know we always try to have a graph. We saved today’s slot for March production but it has not been published yet. So we decided to have some fun. After all, it is Friday and we are frequently criticized for being way too serious.

The mayor of Meta’s capital Villavicencio Juan Guillermo Zuluaga has called for a green tax for oil companies to compensate financially for the environmental toll on the producing and surrounding region.

Citing the risk that social programs could be affected until royalty reforms, the central government has issued a decree to pay more than US$176M to producing regions, in what appears to be most relevant change to the new royalty system since its enactment.

The Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development (MinAmbiente) Luz Helena Sarmiento is planning to present a legislative bill and new decree to “align environmental legislation to the needs required for climate control prevention”, which will likely include restrictions on seismic exploration.

Colombia’s vice-minister of energy Orlando Cabrales says that unconventional resources are a critical element for the country’s energy future and following in line with US policy, touts energy security as the long term goal.

Speaking before an industry audience in Cartagena the Minister of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) Amylkar Acosta offered a thorough defense of the industry, its practices and its role in regional economies.