Delegates from the Interior Ministry (MinInterior) left the comforts of Bogotá behind to meet with local authorities and members of the oil industry in Middle Magadalena as part of a plan to develop a strategy to confront social conflict, and also gave attention to contraband fuel on the border with Venezuela.
Total incidents were flat this week but Non-Armed-Forces (which we take as a proxy for guerrilla-initiated incidents) were down by 3 and Armed Forces incidents were up by 3. The ELN are the main source of problems but an incident in Cauca raises a red flag.
The USO has been pushing its agenda through affiliated workers at Mansarovar and Pacific E&P (TSX:PRE), with a list of claims of abuse in each case.
We frankly could not remember the last time we did this chart which summarizes the data by department (rather than basin or producer) and puts oil and gas production together (by converting gas to equivalent barrels). Useful for trivia contests on rainy Sunday afternoons with the kids or settling bets at the bar. But Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) and the Colombian government should think about some other implications as well.
“The Bolivarian revolution is destroying itself,” said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, referencing Venezuela’s recent finger-pointing at Colombia as the origin for its political and economic problems, a conflict that has implications for Colombia’s peace process.
In Putumayo, community and indigenous groups are pushing to keep oil out, citing its environmental effects and position as a Farc target, and also are calling to curb coca eradication programs. Coca production has brought better returns for the community than legitimate crops.
Non-Armed Forces-reported incidents went up by one this week and that brought the total incident count up by one. However that did not stop the 52-week average from falling to an historic low of 30 incidents per week. This is the safest 52-week period we have seen since starting tracking in 2012.
A recent report shows that there has been a 17% reduction in attacks through July of this year, to total 73 acts of aggression against oil infrastructure. The number of blockades has also dropped compared to last year as well.
President Santos claims that the last couple weeks of the peace process has progressed more than in an entire year. “In these two or three weeks much more has been advanced than in the last six months or the past year,” said Santos. Dialogues have focused on justice and the end of the conflict.
The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MinMinas) announced a slight drop in both diesel and gasoline prices for the month of September, moved by declines in international fuel prices. However the strengthening of the US dollar against the peso and rises in biofuel costs kept the final price from falling further at the pump.
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