News and AnalysIs for

The overall framework of the peace talks in civil society – beyond the negotiating table – is becoming a debate between rendition and reconciliation. A sizable and vocal portion of Colombian society wants rendition: no peace unless the Farc surrender and pay for their crimes. A statistical majority appear to be tired of the long conflict and simply want peace. The latter group would share the former’s concerns about the future – no deals with the Farc that would cause fundamental shifts in Colombian society — but are less concerned about atonement for the past. They just want the conflict to end.

Service company association Campetrol’s rig counts are up between this survey which is just labeled ‘March, 2013’ and the last figures which were labeled ‘February 13th, 2013’. There are three more under contract and 1 more ‘Free’. That is a positive sign although we are coming into the first half ‘winter’ season when drill rig movements slow down considerably.

Meta governor Alan Jara has been particularly critical of the new royalty system and for understandable reasons: as the largest producer department he had the most to lose from a centralized distribution system. Here MinMinas tries to show what Meta has received and also to show Jara’s personal involvement in the process. From a MinMinas press release, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

We tweeted last week about a collision between an oil tanker and a ship transporting bananas in the Caribbean Sea off the cost of Urabá. Oil spilled from the tanker. There were obvious concerns about potential serious environmental damage in the area and Ecopetrol dispatched a team to evaluate the situation. Now it appears that most of the spill has been mopped up. From a MinAmbiente press release, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

There were a number of recent articles – of which we pick on ones from La Republica and Dinero from last week – to say that Colombian investors were streaming out of Ecopetrol and into Pacific Rubiales. The reasons were increases in Pacific Rubiales’ production and reserves, flat reserves and concerns about production in 1Q13 for Ecopetrol. All this is true so the logic is impeccable. The graph shows that perhaps investors are not as responsive to this logic as the articles suggests.

Pacific and Ecopetrol have been fighting over an escalation clause in the Quifa contract for over a year now. In late March, the day before Pacific was to publish its 2012 annual results, an arbitration board ruled in favor of Ecopetrol. After weeks of saying that there were legal avenues to be explored and pointing out that the arbitration board specifically stepped away from ordering the company to pay, Pacific now says they will honor the decision.