As reported by newspaper El Nuevo Siglo, Orlando Cabrales, president of the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH), said that the agency will supervise the oil production of the companies in the country. At present, this work is done by the Ministry of Mines and Energy. “What we want is move forward with a much more automated control, much more systematic. It is now manual”, he explained, and he added: “We have to determine how much the production is.”
The USO says that demonstrations continue in the region of Arauca. We reported on this news item last week. At that time the mayor of Arauca reported that the siege of Caño Limón had been lifted. This news item suggests the USO have taken the demonstrations on the road to other local towns. Gasoline distributor Terpel, which recently announced it was going for a bond issue, receives the usual USO castigation for the sin of outsourcing and Ecopetrol decides to give more jobs to local people in Barrancabermeja.
Incidents were down considerably again this week to 33 a level not seen since the ceasefire period back in December but there were fresh direct attacks on pipelines. Our 4-week Moving Average was down significantly and it now sits at 44 incidents per week closer to what amounts to the long-term average.
Talks resumed in Havana, but the dynamic is security at home. The FARC continue to enrage citizens through terrorism like school bombings but say such acts are the government’s fault because it refuses to consider a bi-lateral truce. The truce concept received a boost when long-time politician and commentator Alvaro Leyva suggested a ceasefire with international supervision might work. But he did not seem to be suggesting that the UN “blue helmets” be brought in but rather that selected celebrities and other worthies do the supervision. Considering the vast territory to be covered, that seems unfeasible.
As reported by RCN Radio, inhabitants of Guaduas (Cundinamarca) complain to the government about the delay in granting environmental licenses for the construction of a section of the Ruta del Sol which connects Guaduas to the municipality of Villeta. They note that an oil company has had a license to operate for more than 13 years in the area.
Business newspaper Portafolio reported that President Juan Manuel Santos said the government appointed six delegates of the National Planning Department (DNP) to decentralize this entity and establish direct contact with governors and mayors. The goal is to accelerate implementation of royalty-financed projects. The governors and mayors may think this is not enough.
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