News and AnalysIs for

According to a MinMinas press release, natural gas service this year reached 550,000 new users and electricity subsidies for economic stata 1, 2 and 3 will total CoP$ 2.3B (US$1.3B). This was announced on Monday by MinMinas, Federico Renjifo, as part of the mining and energy sector Accountability Public Hearing.

We recently attended a lively and interesting session on this topic, organized by national news magazine Semana and sponsored by the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH).

We recently attended a lively and interesting session on this topic, organized by national news magazine Semana and sponsored by the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH). There was much lively debate on the royalties issue and much agreement about the need for Corporate Social Responsibility. But we were left with the impression of Bogotá elites talking to Bogotá elites. There was little scope for the communities themselves to contribute.

The Colombian Armed Forces recently encountered an antiaircraft battery belonging to the Farc. However the Air Force commander assures that the equipment is old and unlikely to function well. We did not know the Farc had antiaircraft batteries old or otherwise. From a MinDefensa press release with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

Incidents were down this week, right about the average for the past several weeks. We calculate a 4-week moving average to smooth out weekly variations and although that rose significantly in the run-up to the first round of peace talks, it dropped almost as rapidly to settle at about 40 incidents per week. This value has held for the last four weeks and appears to be the “new normal”. Once again the vast majority of these were the Army continuing to discover camps, minefields and weapons caches so perhaps the Farc are keeping up their truce commitment.

Ecopetrol guarantees that all diesel fuel from January 1st, 2013 will have only 50ppm sulfur. From an Ecopetrol press release with comments by Hydrocarbons Colombia.