The USO said that it has started a review of its collective bargaining agreement with Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC), two years after signing the latest labor accord with the NOC, but made no mention of its plans to hold a company-wide strike.
Oil prices for the critical fourth quarter started on the right foot in October with Brent at its highest average since August of 2015. But sentiment turned last week and the indicators are not good for November.
The Senate’s Fifth Commission held a debate to discuss “the war between foreign companies and retailers of the fuel market”, which touched upon issues like market consolidation and how fuel prices are determined.
Among the proposals sent to the National Planning Department (DNP) as part of the royalty budget discussion by the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) is a mechanism to penalize communities whose frequent protests paralyze the oil industry.
Last week’s main story was on royalties because the Senate had summoned the Finance and Mining ministries in to explain themselves.
Last week we discussed changes in natural gas production but skipped over the evolution of demand. The research unit of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, UPME, recently published its 2016 overview of the natural gas market, and broke down how consumption of gas has fared in different economic sectors.