Through the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP), companies are calling on the government’s customs and taxes agency DIAN to fulfill tax returns on fiscal income prepaid to the authorities which was based on oil prices of US$80-90/barrel.
A mixed system for block auctions which includes a greater frequency of two a year and more flexibility in their rules is being drawn up the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH). Its board of directors is reviewing the plan.
A magistrate in Putumayo has filed a case with the Constitutional Court which alleges that an indigenous community (Awá) in the department has not received their due rights and called for E&P activities to be halted.
The Colombian State Council found that the firm Gran Tierra Energy Colombia (TSX: GTE) has failed to meet the terms of a contract with Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) and therefore owes the state oil firm CoP$6.2B (US$2M).
The Minister of Mines and Energy Tomás González led a string of visits and inaugurations which highlighted royalty funded projects in a “Royalty Marathon”, while President Juan Manuel Santos addressed the press and said that royalties are no longer a synonym for corruption.
The director of the Energy and Gas Regulation Commission (CREG) Jorge Pinto Nolla defended the regulatory structure around the natural gas industry in an interview, and said that consumers will not suffer price hikes in their energy bill, nor will the industry be left without the essential fuel.