ACP as a source of information
Source: Portafolio – National
Date: June 08
Headline: The Colombian economy, with faint signs of reactivation
The Colombian economy is taking its first steps towards the takeoff of reactivation, amid an inevitable national challenge: the preservation of the life and health of citizens. Government, unions, analysts, and academics agree that this process is gradual, slow, and progresses at different rates for each sector and region. There are even various levels of optimism about the speed of recovery. (…) Regarding oil prices, the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) in its economic report “Impacts of Covid-19 on the liquid fuels market,“ states that after the strong impact recorded in the first month of isolation (April), consumption began to grow in May and the demand for gasoline and diesel-biodiesel increased by 40%. ”We see these signs of recovery with optimism,” said Francisco José Lloreda Mera, president of the ACP. It was replicated in: portafolio.co (June 07), buenaventuraenlinea.com (June 08).
Source: El Meridiano de Córdoba – Regional
Date: June 08
Headline: $1.7 trillion at stake
The drop in demand for gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel will impact the Nation's coffers by up to 1.7 trillion pesos, indicated the Colombian Petroleum Association. It noted that as a consequence of the confinement to address Covid-19, the demand for liquid fuels will decrease by 20 % this year, which will affect tax collection.
Source: elheraldo.co – Regional
Date: June 08
Headline: María Fernanda Suárez, among the most influential women in the global energy sector
The Minister of Mines and Energy is advancing a gender equity policy in the Colombian mining-energy sector. The Minister of Mines and Energy, María Fernanda Suárez, was selected by the Women's Energy Council to be part of The Global Female Influencer 275, a select group that brings together women from 42 countries who inspire transformative leadership in the oil, gas, and energy industries. (…) Once the socialization and awareness phase of the Gender Guidelines for the mining-energy sector is completed, implementation will begin with companies in the sector starting in mid-June. To achieve this, a public-private alliance will be formalized, in a first phase, with the Colombian Mining Association (ACM) and the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP), and then a work plan will be developed. A plan of action with the entities attached to the Ministry of Mines and Energy is also planned.
Source: paisminero.com – National
Date: June 08
The Minister of Energy, María Fernanda Suárez, was elected by the Women's Energy Council to be part of The Global Female Influencer 275, which brings together women from 42 countries who inspire transformative leadership in the oil, gas, and energy industries. «Gender equity is the opportunity we have to advance as a country towards a more equal and just society. With the transition from indifference to the visibility and empowerment of women in the mining-energy sector, we are moving from discourse to action, making diversity and inclusion fundamental pillars of our public policy agenda. This is not an exclusive dialogue for women; it must be a commitment from all of society,» assured Minister María Fernanda Suárez. (…) To this end, a Public-Private Partnership will be formalized, in a first phase, with the Colombian Mining Association (ACM) and the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP), and then a work plan will be developed. A plan of action with the entities affiliated with the Ministry of Mines and Energy is also planned.
Source: El País – Regional
Author: Francisco José Lloreda Mera
Date: June 07
Headline: Fear less, understand more
The return to school starting in August causes panic among many parents. It is understandable. If there is something one would want to avoid at all costs, it is that something bad happens to a child. Fear is personal, hard to judge, and some parents are more apprehensive than others, and fear does not easily understand reasons. Hence the importance of also understanding that in-person education is necessary and can be carried out responsibly. While not denying the virtues of virtual education, it will never replace those of in-person education, especially for children and young people. Going to school is fundamental not only for the academic process but for integral formation. It was echoed in:elpais.com.co (June 07).
Source: valoraanalitik.com – National
Date: June 07
Headline: Colombian minister among the most influential in the global energy sector
The Minister of Energy, María Fernanda Suárez, was elected by the Women's Energy Council to be part of The Global Female Influencer 275, which brings together women from 42 countries who influence the oil, gas, and energy industries. (…) “In ten years, I hope to witness an energy sector in which at least 50% of technical and high-level positions are occupied by women, thus breaking the paradigm that electricity, mining, oil, and gas are male-dominated industries,” added Minister Suárez Londoño. According to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, this portfolio leads the Gender Equity Policy in the mining-energy sector. (…) To this end, a Public-Private Partnership will be formalized, in a first phase, with the Colombian Mining Association (ACM) and the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP), to then develop a work plan.
GREMIO
Source: El Tiempo
Date: June 08
Headline: State will be able to buy companies at risk of bankruptcy
With the argument of throwing a lifeline to companies that are at high risk of insolvency, allowing the State to buy part of their shares and then resell them, the Government issued decree 811 on June 4, 2020. Although the Deputy Minister of Finance, Juan Alberto Londoño, points out that with the measure there is no possibility of selling part of Ecopetrol, as it “only refers to companies that are being saved now,” during the critical situation brought on by the pandemic, some analysts estimate that a couple of articles in the decree (special provisions) also pave the way for the possibility of selling state shareholdings in properties it already owns if necessary. “In my opinion, there is no doubt that all kinds of privatization are involved, including Ecopetrol,” expressed economist Mario Valencia, director of Cedetrabajo.
Source: El Colombiano
Date: June 08
Headline: The action of Mineros is the only one gaining this year
Species of ISA, Nutresa, Canacol, Grupo de Energía de Bogotá, and Davivienda among those with good prospects. In May, the shares of Mineros, Bolsa de Valores de Colombia (BVC), ISA, Canacol, Corficolombiana, and Nutresa observed positive variations in their quotes, while the ordinary and preferred shares of Grupo Sura saw the largest contractions. Stock behavior as of May. Price variation so far in 2020. Ecopetrol: -40.0%.
Source: prensalibrecasanare.com
Date: June 08
Headline: Survival tests of two oil workers kidnapped in Arauca by the ELN.
Through a survival test sent in a video, the Eastern War Front “Manuel Vásquez Castaño” of the National Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of Pedro León Pérez and Oscar Javier Rodríguez Olmos, technicians from the company Boreths, a subcontractor of Occidental de Colombia OXY, who have now been in the hands of this subversive cell for 35 days. The citizens from Villavicencio were kidnapped last Sunday, May 3, while traveling in a vehicle between the municipalities of Tame and Fortul. Guerrillas intercepted them in the area of “El Mordisco.” In the video, Pérez and Rodríguez send a message to their families, wives, and children, stating that they have received good treatment, are in good health, and will soon be back home.
Source: El Tiempo
Date: June 07
Headline: A roadmap for managing financing and debt of emerging economies.
There is not a single path; a combination of solutions is required to address the debt and external financing problem that covid-19 generated in Latin American countries, explains former executive secretary of ECLAC José Antonio Ocampo. Two of the main problems in managing the economic crisis of covid-19 are how to ensure financing for emerging and developing countries and how to manage their external debts. (…) Eight Latin American countries have already benefited from this reactivation of the private market: Panama at the end of March and Peru, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Chile, Colombia, and Brazil since mid-April, two Colombian public companies (Ecopetrol and Grupo de Energía de Bogotá, both with minority private participation), two Chilean companies (Codelco and the Santiago Metro), and one Brazilian company (Petrobras).
Source: El Frente
Date: June 07
Headline: 50,000 biosecurity protectors against Covid-19 arrived.
Thanks to the business alliance of the project led by Ecopetrol, the governor of Santander, Mauricio Aguilar Hurtado, received the first 50,000 splash shields, out of the 91,200 that the Department will obtain to equip medical personnel in hospitals, rescue organizations, and public forces. “These protective elements demonstrate that we are capable of showing work in science, technology, and information. This is a true prevention strategy against Covid-19 in our department. I thank all the entities that joined this initiative,” expressed Aguilar Hurtado.
Source: Caracol Radio
Date: June 07
Source: RCN Radio.
Date: June 07
Topics
Source: El Espectador
Date: June 08
Headline: OPEC+ agreed to extend cuts, but Mexico did not join.
Mexico declined to extend the cut of 100,000 barrels of oil per day until July, as part of the agreement reached on Saturday by OPEC and its allies to address the decline in crude demand amid the coronavirus crisis. The so-called OPEC+ agreed to extend the production cuts implemented in May and June until next month. (…) «We have already complied and there are countries, according to the same OPEC report, that have not fully complied,» said the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the news agency added.
Source: La República
Date: June 08
Headline: Dollar decreases but does not return to pre-covid-19 prices
After being in an uncertain scenario worldwide due to the implications of covid-19 and the closure of many economies, the stock markets are beginning to show a part of tranquility and stability, which is reflected in the price of the dollar, which according to analysts this week will have an average price of $3.544. (…) The gradual recovery of oil demand, along with the supply cuts from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has generated an appreciation in crude prices that decreases the strength of the US dollar against the peso. Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, explained that “crude prices made another attempt at session highs after the Baker Hughes rig count plunged for the thirteenth consecutive week to a new low.”.
Source: La República
Date: June 08
Headline: The country's exports have completed two decades without taking off
Since the economic opening in 1991, the results of the country's exports have not been the best to highlight within the economy. Since that date, the process has been slow and with little variety of goods to export. For that reason, it is not surprising that for the past 20 years, Colombia's exports have been practically stagnant, judging by the trend they have had over time. (See graph). (…) Therefore, during the presidency of Juan Manuel Santos, the decline between 2015 and 2017 was so noticeable, as the country entered one of the worst crises of oil prices. And although this may seem like the most noticeable problem, the truth is that other factors such as the underutilization of free trade agreements have stalled the possibility of increasing export supply.
Source: El Colombiano
Date: June 08
Headline: Government distances itself from OPEC agreement
The Mexican Secretary of Energy, Rocío Nahle, confirmed that Mexico distanced itself this Saturday from the OPEC+ oil agreement and will not extend the cut of its production by 100,000 barrels per day applied in May and June for another month. The other countries did extend it.
Source: El Tiempo
Date: June 07
Headline: OPEC Summit
Oil producers, at their summit yesterday, decided to maintain the production cut until July 31, to control the price of crude.
Source: El Tiempo
Date: June 07
Headline: After record, dollar returns to ‘new normal’
As economies have been opening up and the panic generated in investors by the coronavirus pandemic is fading, the dollar's exchange rate is adjusting back to pre-crisis levels, benefiting importers and consumers who buy products in dollars with credit cards, companies with dollar loans, and external public debt, among others (…) But there are also other reasons, such as the recovery of oil prices, which directly helps the country, while locally the Government has been very active monetizing dollars obtained abroad to address the substantial needs left by the pandemic. (…) In this sense, analysts from Grupo Bancolombia expect that in the medium term the currency will fluctuate around 3,808 pesos, due to stabilization in the oil market and better prospects for the reopening of economies worldwide.
Source: Vanguardia Liberal
Date: June 07
Headline: OPEC+ confirms that it extends its supply cut until July 31.
OPEC agreed yesterday to extend the current crude oil supply cuts for one more month, until the end of July, awaiting approval from independent producers for the measure, reported the Russian official agency TASS, which accessed the draft statement from the oil cartel. “The first stage of the extraction reduction agreed for May and June 2020 is extended for one more month, until the end of July,” the document states. The draft statement emphasizes that countries that did not comply with the agreed extraction cuts must compensate between July and September for the difference between what was pumped and the set quota.
Source: RCN Radio.
Date: June 07
Source: Canal Teleantioquia.
Date: June 07
Institutional
Source: El Espectador
Date: June 08
Headline: The sugar producers and the government. By: Salomón Kalmanovitz.
The recent veto by the Uribe-Duque Government on the appointment of Frank Pearl as president of Asocaña demonstrates that the rents captured by sugar producers depend on actions by the State. (…) The rents created by public policy originate from two fronts: first, the manipulation of prices exercised by the guild through the so-called FEPA (Sugar Price Stabilization Fund) and the restriction on international competition through tariffs and prohibitions on importing sugar priced lower than that set by the guild and the Government. Second, the capture of the Ministry of Energy that manages the prices that Ecopetrol pays for ethanol derived from sugar that is mixed with gasoline: the price paid is between two and three times the international price. To achieve this, they hinder imports of Brazilian ethanol and even the American ethanol agreed upon in the FTA signed with that country.
Source: Portafolio
Date: June 08
Headline: Oil pipelines, the «hot potato.»
In recent days, at the Palacio de Nariño, President Iván Duque, Deputy Minister of Mines Diego Mesa, and other high officials met. The central topic was transportation tariffs for oil pipelines.
Source: Vanguardia Liberal
Date: June 07
Headline: Announcement of a natural gas project for Puerto Wilches
After a hectic week regarding public services in the municipality of Puerto Wilches, Santander, an important announcement arrived that will benefit hundreds of families in the riverside area of this locality. (…) Of course, the project must undergo the respective procedures before the UPME (Mining and Energy Planning Unit), where it will be evaluated and prioritized according to criteria of unmet basic needs of the beneficiary population, level of user coverage, among other aspects. (…) With the viability of this project, 1,401 families in Puerto Wilches will be able to transition from using firewood to having a connection to the residential gas service, a clean fuel that is friendly to health and the environment,” explained the Minister of Mines and Energy, María Fernanda Suárez.
Colombian Association of Oil and Gas