According to Minminas, Federico Renjifo, the search for oil continues near Buenaventura (Valle del Cauca), off the Pacific coast of Colombia. For Renjifo it is important to study the area, which is virtually unexplored.After a poor performance for these blocks in the 2012 Round he is certainly right.
Last week the news broke that well-known brokerage house Interbolsa was running short of cash and had been intervened by finance industry supervisor (SuperFinanciera). The news has scared retail investors of all scales. Both the company and the SuperFinanciera insist that stocks purchased by retail investors are safe because they are held in escrow accounts although direct investors in Grupo Interbolsa itself will probably have to take some kind of “hit” to bail out the brokerage firm. What is not at all clear is what happens to certain Interbolsa investments including Tribeca Fund I, the 67.8% owner of PetroLatina, a UK firm which operates in Colombia as PetroNorte – one of the big winners at the 2012 Round with four exploration blocks.
Petrominerales announced the company’s 3Q12 results and investors certainly liked what they heard. At one point the stock was up nearly 11% just before noon Eastern. The company told a good story for potential exploration opportunities but the 3Q12 results themselves were not inspiring. Quarterly production was down 29% year-over-year and 15% quarter-over-quarter. The excitement seemed to come from the company changing the profile of its debt (saving cash) and buying back common shares.
Incidents are down again for the third straight week and are just about back to the level they were just before peace talks began. It would be very bad analytic practice to suggest a pattern from a single cycle but these results are consistent with a theory that things will get worse while the sides are actually at the table, going back to “normal” afterward.
On November 1, 2012, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos addressed a summit of mayors of the departmental capitals. The president wanted to address the mayors’ main concerns so the whole speech touched on health, security and royalties. Below we translate the portion of the speech dealing with the latter topic. It is important for the hydrocarbons industry that royalties are well spent and give visibility to its contributions. From the President’s website. Extracted, translated and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.
Resources from this fund were approved for financing 7 of natural gas networks and connections infrastructure projects by Resolution 180 458 (August 2012). From a MinMinas press release. Translated, edited and with commentary by Hydrocarbons Colombia.
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