News and AnalysIs for

It is time for our quarterly look at stock prices and as always we shine a spotlight on Ecopetrol’s market performance.

After defending the decree which restructures the process and deadlines to grant licenses against environmentalists and critics in the Senate, the Minister of Environment Gabriel Vallejo met with members of the oil industry to calm company concerns on the process.

Led by the Finance Ministry (MinHacienda) Mauricio Cárdenas, the central government brought a series of proposals before a joint economic session of congress that it says would increase direct royalties to producing regions to CoP$4.1T (US$1.998B) in 2015-2016 from the previous figure of CoP$1.9T.

President Juan Manuel Santos will leave for his visit to European nations in an effort to raise funds for an eventual peace transition process, but already some advances have been made. The European Union signed 10 international cooperation contracts for missions related to the peace process worth a total of CoP$35B (US$17M).

A recent study by the World Energy Council in Latin America found that 74% of those surveyed would agree to pay more on a monthly basis for fuels with cleaner emissions. However that support quickly dropped as the extra cost increased.

Community Action Committees (JACS) from Casanare have organized themselves to reject labor reforms proposed by the Labor Ministry that would sideline their role in local hiring in favor of government-run agencies. In a letter, the JACS said the reform is just as bad as the royalty reform.