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As reported by Portafolio, Fulvio Conti, president of power company Enel, announced that the company will enter “the gas-selling business, gradually, focusing on end customers, especially in Colombia and Chile.” Conti said that entering this business would be handled by Endesa and will be conducted over the next five years. Thus, Enel would replicate the business model that has in Europe, where subsidiary Endesa Gas is the second largest gas marketer in Spain.

Ecopetrol is sending out a number of press releases designed to bolster its corporate social responsibility credentials. This week, environmental issues have the focus especially the company’s considerable investment as part of its long-term strategy to produce “clean barrels”. From an Ecopetrol press release, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.

We find the USO’s embracing of environmentalism incredibly cynical but they have seized on this as a way to connect with the broader public and justify their strategies. Ecopetrol understands this and so we have a recent detailing of their environmental investments. Pacific Rubiales also highlights its environmental record, but principally it seems for ethical investors.

Incidents were up this week to 44 just over the long term average. Again this week a higher than recent average number of the items were initiated by the Armed Forces which is a good sign. (On average during the past year, 75% of incidents have been initiated by the Armed Forces and this week the percentage is 87%.) Our 4-week Moving Average was flat at 42 incidents per week closer to what amounts to a long-term average.

Peace talks advance based on the approval of President Santos and new proposals from the FARC. In recent statements, Santos said: “My conclusion, after talking extensively with the committee that is in Havana, is that the process is going well: they are working on the construction of an agreement that never before has been done in Colombia.” Indeed, Santos was so optimistic with the progress that he said achieving peace is a matter of months: “This is how conflicts end, here and anywhere in the world: with serious and disciplined working on drafting an agreement with concrete commitments. If we keep the pace of the last few weeks, it is perfectly possible to complete the work in months.”

It is barely visible in the graph but February 2013 oil production in Colombia dipped to 997,581bd from 1,011,992bd in January 2013. We had predicted this based on the incidence of attacks just on the Caño-Limón pipeline and government ministers had shied away from predictions. What is not in this report by MinMinas is the fact that Pacific Rubiales claims that its production is running higher by over 30,000bd after royalties compared to December (probably over 37,000bd before royalties). That means the sum of the rest of the industry is producing less. From a MinMinas press release, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.