Hydrocarbon industry begins the “Regional Meetings: united for sustainable development”

The Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) and the Colombian Chamber of Oil Goods and Services (Campetrol) joined forces to hold the “Regional Meetings: united for sustainable development” with the aim of fostering a dialogue space around issues of special importance in hydrocarbon-producing regions, and with the participation of different institutions and social actors.

• The first Meeting held in Puerto Gaitán addressed the discussion on the reform of the General System of Royalties.
• Local authorities, community representatives, National Government, sector unions, among others, participated, who analyzed and discussed the current General System of Royalties and the construction of proposals around a reform.
• The Meetings seek to build consensus and proposals on issues of interest to the producing regions.

The first Meeting was held in the department of Meta (municipality of Puerto Gaitán) as it is the country's leading hydrocarbon producer. Due to its importance for this region, the reform of the General System of Royalties was addressed as a topic of analysis and discussion. The event featured a discussion table with local, departmental, and national authorities, as well as community representatives, sector unions, among other actors present in the territory, who evaluated the results obtained after the reform of the General System of Royalties (SGR) in 2012.

The dialogue allowed for the generation of a proposal that gathers the positions and opinions of the different actors in the region, which is aimed at having a more efficient, equitable, transparent, and fair System for the producing regions.

The mayor of Puerto Gaitán, Alexander Fierro, highlighted the importance of this Meeting and the issue of royalties for the municipality: “It is very important that this space has been held in our municipality, the main crude oil producer in the country. It was a perfect setting to discuss a crucial issue for the economic and social development of our region.”.

The department of Meta has a special interest in royalties as they represented income of more than 1.49 trillion between 2005 and 2017. “Meta is the leading hydrocarbon producer in Colombia, accounting for 48.3% of the country's daily production. Therefore, for the oil and gas industry, it is essential to be here today to open this dialogue space in the territory and jointly build a reform proposal for the General System of Royalties with the territory,” said the president of the Colombian Petroleum Association, Francisco José Lloreda Mera.

For his part, the executive president of Campetrol, Germán Espinosa, emphasized that these meetings will continue to be held in different hydrocarbon-producing regions. “Our goal is to hold these meetings in other regions such as Casanare, Putumayo, and the Magdalena Medio, where we will address issues of interest for those departments. In 100 years we have had misunderstandings and we need to reconnect through dialogue. We are convinced that solutions are in the territories, and therefore we want to build from shared visions and listen to local and regional voices to strengthen articulation,” he stated.

The next meeting will be held in the municipality of Yopal (Casanare) where the topic of productive diversification and competitiveness will be addressed.