News and AnalysIs for

This is more fun than anything else at this point. We have taken our Security Incidents Near Hydrocarbons counts and color coded the departments. The more red the color the more incidents. The fewer, the “cooler” the situation and thus the department is “blue”. We have superimposed the outlines of the major basins for reference.

Last Friday, Defense Minister Juan Carlos Pinzón addressed the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) conference in Cartegena. The speech was full of statistical information and the crowd gave him a standing ovation. This is the MinDefensa press release on the speech, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

We have been tracking incidents near hydrocarbons infrastructure since the beginning of 1Q12. The Colombian government and the Colombian Petroleum Association track events where the infrastructure itself is attacked. We use a radius of 20km and count any event that involves terrorism of one form or another. We believe this gives a more accurate picture of the risk associated with a particular area. It also allows us to assess the risk of zones that do not yet have infrastructure, such as an exploration block.

We are tracking security events that could be important for the Oil and Gas. These are not necessarily direct attacks on oil and gas infrastructure but evidence of terrorist activity in zones of hydrocarbons interest. See our dedicated page here for a complete listing and look here for methodology.

October 10, 2012
After a union leader told RCN Radio that recent riots in Puerto Gaitan that killed three people were because “Pacific Rubiales has not kept its commitments”, the company was forced to issue a statement that this was not true. The company’s explanation fits the facts better: that a policeman ran over and killed a small child, the community wanted to lynch him, his fellow policemen defended him and a riot broke out.

On Saturday October 6, 2o12 the Colombian Armed Forces killed three men and a woman, wounding a minor in a municipality known variously as El Bordo and La Patia which is in Technical Evaluation Block Cauca 6. These are perhaps the only facts we know for certain.

We have started tracking security events that could be important for the Oil and Gas. These are not necessarily direct attacks on oil and gas infrastructure but evidence of terrorist activity in zones of hydrocarbons interest. See our dedicated page here for a complete listing and methodology. We will only be publishing significant events and summaries in the Hydrocarbons Colombia page.

The Colombian National Police report significant reductions in crime  in the month of September resulting from plan “Green Heart”. They report various categories of crime were down both month over month and year over year, in some categories as much as 80%. Bank robberies were zero in September. They report 71 captures during the month.

Chile-based GeoPark reported its first half 2012 results in a press release, highlighting acquisitions in Colombia that increased production and successful exploration in Colombia as well.

The company closed two acquisitions in Colombia in the first half and that contributed 88% of the 194% increase in revenues that the company recorded. The price was US$105M and revenue contribution for the first half was US$36M which should make the CFO and the shareholders happy.

The Colombian Petroleum Workers Union (USO) has called for an industry-wide strike or day of protest in the oil-important department of Meta on October 3, 2012. The union is in a bitter battle with CEPCOLSA and its subcontractor Termtecnica Coindustrial but has been trying to widen the dispute to include Pacific Rubiales. A few weeks ago, it told reporters from RCN Radio that riots in the city of Puerto Gaitan were directed at the company, something that spokesperson Ferderico Restrepo had to deny publicly. The union says the march, strike or day of protest has the goal of raising awareness on the following: