Extractive industry organizations are working hard to counteract a vein of negativity that some populist politicians leveraged for their own advantage. The badly managed renewal of a nickel-mining concession and a poorly handled coal spill off the Caribbean coast have caused all multinational extractive companies to be demonized. The major industry associations have struck back. From a Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) press release, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.
As reported by Dinero among others, according to the National Planning Department (DNP), after the recent reform to the royalties system, the OCAD have approved US$4.9B to invest in 2,100 projects. “Of these resources, US$2.7B came from the royalty system and another US$2.2B via joint financing from the national or regional budget. Of the US$2.7B approved US$1.9B have been transferred to accounts of municipalities, and this month the balance will be transferred”, said Mauricio Santa Maria, director of the DNP.
According to a publication on mining and energy issues from the newspaper El Nuevo Siglo, Colombia is a leader in the creation of jobs in this sector. According to a study conducted by the Oil & Gas Division of the recruiting company Hays; there will be a increased demand for production and transportation jobs of the mining and energy sector in Colombia.
At the natural gas industry’s annual conference a few weeks ago, ex-ANH head and now Vice-minister of Energy, Orlando Cabrales, talked about the Coal Bed Methane (CBM) opportunity. The only National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) auction planned this year is for CBM and the next big oil and gas auction is not expected until 2014. Based on the data which we show in the above chart, Cabrales expects 23TCF of CBM to be available from the six top areas.
The Environment section of national newspaper El Espectador devoted nearly a full page of today’s edition to a report (from Spain’s El País) on a 5.7 magnitude quake in Prague, Oklahoma in 2011. The El País story in turn is based on a report in Geology magazine which concludes the quake was caused by the accumulated impact of 20 years of water reinjection from a conventional gas well. The photo used to illustrate the story, and indeed most of the story, has to do with the fracking debate and the relevance of this incident to nonconventional hydrocarbons development.
The dispute between the USO and Oxy is grinding away. On the one hand, the USO continues to complain that management is not listening and on the other, holding out the olive branch to continue to extend the dialogues. Last week between a holiday on Monday and then the traditional Colombian Easter holiday from Wednesday noon, the negotiating teams no doubt did not accomplish very much.
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