The dramatically different margins between Transport and Ecopetrol’s other Lines of Business means the profit shift continues. Although E&P and Refining represent nearly 80% of revenues, they represent less than 40% of EBITDA.
The president of the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) Francisco Lloreda lashed out against rising environmental and citizen protests against oil activities, which he says have become a free pass to extort and pressure the industry in Colombia.
The Meta Governor Marcela Amaya insisted that the department must shift its economic pillars away from oil and instead focus on tourism and agriculture. She formed a special committee to study employment.
Canacol Energy’s (TSX:CNE) strategic direction towards greater gas production helped it defy the general trends of its peer: Netbacks and revenues rose, costs fell, and it even reported a profit for the first quarter of 2016.
The 49th round of talks ended last week without any major advances, but former El Salvadorian guerrilla Joaquín Villalobos, an advisor to the process in Colombia, assured that the end is the most difficult part, but that an agreement is near. Meanwhile the ELN process gets complicated.
A decree that would lift restrictions to import ethanol has been criticized by Senators and the biofuels industry association, as were the delays and overruns at Ecopetrol’s (NYSE:EC) biofuel refinery, which is still under construction.
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