News and AnalysIs for

That was the gist of the message from MinMinas Federico Renjifo in response to a version of the above graph at the CiMinPetrol 2013 congress in Cartagena last week. It had been presented by Raul Espinosa, a Venezuelan economist with a long history of working in the industry, currently at the InterAmerican Development Bank.

Colombian Senator Maritza Martínez Aristizábal has tightened her message on the Pacific Rubiales and Ecopetrol relationship, and requested that Ecopetrol assume control of the Rubiales oil field.

The Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos addressed the attendees of the International Mining and Petroleum Conference in Cartagena on Wednesday calling a responsible and sustainable mining and oil industry “the main financier of the transformation in Colombia,” but avoided some of the sensitive topics industry leaders and investors wanted to hear.

The Center for Analysis and Public Affairs (CAAP) has presented its first ranking of how well departments are managing royalties –whether direct, indirect, regional compensation, or for science/innovation- as a tool for the public debate surrounding the use of these funds.

Colombian Senator Maritza Martínez Aristizábal has questioned the relationship and awarding of contracts between the state and Canadian oil and gas company Pacific Rubiales ahead of senate discussions surrounding a contract with Ecopetrol set to expire in 2016.

The Quifa/Pacific Rubiales/Ecopetrol story never dies! Now the Comptroller General (a kind of Auditor General) weighs in on the March 13, 2012 ruling to emphasize the difference in current WTI prices versus the historic prices, and therefore the Colombian state risks losing US$13M.From a Comptroller General press release, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia

Just in time for the Minister’s speech to the CinMiPetrol conference next week in Cartagena, the Ministry announces a second consecutive month with crude oil production above 1Mbd. April’s number was 1,006,799bd which was below the record 1,013,481bd last month but still above the objective and much better than February’s result.

Sounding like something from a Transformers movie and merging the acronym ‘OCAD’ (for the initials in Spanish of the boards that approve projects looking for royalty money) and ‘marathon’, the invented word ‘OCADton’ is supposed to reassure local municipalities that the process is working faster in 2013. From a DNP press release, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

We thought this ANH announcement that appears on both the MinMinas and ANH websites was important because it describes a change in procedure for applications and permits as of May 3, 2013. The changes were announced over a year ago but take effect this month. Translated by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

When we saw this, we thought it was a garbled rumor but it appeared on the National Planning Department (DNP) website. Then on TV we saw Blair sitting with senior DNP officials and smiling to the press at the foot of the main staircase in the presidential palace. The story passed from rumor to theater of the absurd. From a DNP press release, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.