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A report issued last week by Colombia’s General Controller placing the responsibility for a drought earlier this year on the shoulders of the oil industry in Casanare has brought the issue back to the front pages, as critics call for greater restrictions on seismic exploration while oil authorities push back.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) says no changes will be made to the reference fuel price, pointing out that over the last year fuel prices have grown by less than 1% in the case of gasoline and 1.8% for diesel.

President Juan Manuel Santos named a new cabinet Monday evening which included several changes relevant to the oil industry, Amylkar Acosta steps down as the Minister of Mines and Energy and will be replaced by Tomás González.

The Colombian Chamber of Oil Goods & Services (Campetrol) has led an agreement signed between its 191 members that looks to denounce and prevent cases of corruption in the oil industry.

The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) will meet this week with representatives of coal miners Cerrejón and Drummond, as well as Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) to discuss Coal Bed Methane (CBM) that has been the center of conflict between the two coal miners over an unclear concession.

The General Controller’s office has issued a report that blames a number of manmade influences, including oil production, livestock and rice plantations, for the Casanare drought earlier this year, but singled out seismic activity and the drilling of wells as the main responsible action for the drought.

The National Planning Department and other authorizes have organized an expo for regional entities on the royalty system, while Meta finally has its OCAD review. Producing regions might not like the new royalty system, but other regions, such as Sabana de Torres, Santander, have used it to their advantage. These and other stories in our routine round-up of royalty related stories.

The National Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) has placed restrictions on the disposal of produced water from the Rubiales field into a waterway with the same name, citing the environmental risk for the area surrounding Pacific Rubiales (TSX:PRE) namesake, and largest producing field.

Brazilian oil operator Óleo e Gás Participações (OGX) says that social and environmental issues pushed it to divest its Colombia assets in the Cesar Rancheria (CR) and Lower Magdalena (VIM) basins, and continues negotiating with the National Hydrocarbons Agency to reach an final exit plan.

We have low expectations of ‘rendering of accounts’ sessions because they are typically well orchestrated to avoid controversy and minimize the risk of criticism spiraling out of control. However we were presently surprised by the recent MinMinas session which essentially closed out the first Santos government’s management of the area.