An agreement to search for those missing due to the conflict and a wide statement of support (with conditions) from the business community, plus more optimism from the general public in a recent poll made this last week a positive one for the government’s peace efforts. But doubts on transitional justice remain.
The Minister of Mines and Energy Tomás González met with regional leaders from the Nariño Department and the National Direction of Hydrocarbons and said that fuel prices in regions should remain stable through the end of November at least, and reassured there would be supply.
While 2015 has been marked by the fall in oil prices, a report from BanColombia predicts that the full brunt of the fall will be felt in 2016, as the government’s austerity programs start to hit the overall economy.
Coal miner Drummond says that it could receive its environmental license “at any moment” to start production of Coal Bed Methane (CBM) in La Guajira, where a concession dispute with the coal miner of the same block, Cerrejón had kept the project from moving forward.
Geologists have felt the strongest impact from the fall in oil prices as companies slash their investments in drilling and exploration, but there are still some niches that remain in high demand in Colombia.
GasThe El Niño weather phenomenon has intensified from moderate to strong according to the state weather institute IDEAM, and rain shortages in September will mean a strong increase in demand for natural gas, squeezing electrical energy generators.