News report April 28, 2020

4 de septiembre de 201921 min de lectura

ACP as a source of information

Source: El Tiempo
Date: April 28
Headline: Despite the crisis, Ecopetrol issued bonds abroad for 2.000 million dollars

Investors were willing to ‘buy’ bonds from the oil company for up to US$ 5.000 million. Brent crude closed below US$20. Despite the uncertainty prevailing in the markets not only due to the covid-19 pandemic but also due to low oil prices, the Colombian oil company Ecopetrol secured 2.000 million dollars from international investors through a bond issuance in external markets. The bonds, which have a maturity in 2030, a coupon rate of 6.87 percent, and a yield of 7 percent, had high demand from external investors, who showed willingness to ‘lend’ the oil company up to 5.000 million dollars, which is 2.5 times more than what was offered.

FSource: La República
Date: April 28
Headline: Ecopetrol issued US$2.000 million in external bonds

Ecopetrol announced that it successfully completed the issuance and placement of external public debt bonds for US$2.000 million in the international capital market. According to the company, the term will be for 10 years with a yield of 7%. Despite the context of low oil prices and covid-19, there was an oversubscription of more than US$5.000 million, an amount that equals 2.5 times what was offered. Additionally, they stated that more than 250 investors from the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America participated. “This transaction aims to anticipate potential cash needs associated with a deterioration in market conditions, provide flexibility in the development of the business strategy, and reaffirms investor confidence in the future of Ecopetrol,” the company assured. With the operation, they also warned that as of now, no additional borrowing needs are estimated for this year. The transaction added to the one announced a week ago in which US$665 million was disbursed from a loan contracted with Scotiabank and Mizuho Bank.

Source: Portafolio
Date: April 28
Headline: Ecopetrol secured US$2.000 million

Ecopetrol carried out the issuance and placement of External Public Debt Bonds in the international capital market that reached a value of more than US$ 5.000 million, which equals 2.5 times what was offered (US$2.000 million). »Despite the current oil situation, 250 investors from the US, Europe, Asia, and Latin America reaffirmed their vote of confidence in Ecopetrol, in its solidity and in its ability to face the new landscape,« said a spokesperson for the oil company. This transaction, according to the company, aims to anticipate potential cash needs associated with a deterioration in market conditions, provide flexibility in the development of the business strategy, and reaffirms investor confidence in the future of Ecopetrol.

Source: El Colombiano
Date: April 28
Headline: Bancolombia, the stock that grew the most in the BVC

With an increase of 6.34 %, Bancolombia's stock was the one that appreciated the most in the equity market of the Colombian Stock Exchange. It was followed by ETB, with 2.71 %; and Ecopetrol, whose increase was 2.09 %. On the other hand, the Preferred Grupo Argos stock was the one that fell the most: 6.84 %.

Source: El Colombiano
Date: April 28
Headline: Ecopetrol went into debt for 2.000 million dollars

It was done through a ten-year bond issuance with a coupon rate of 6.875%. 250 foreign investors participated. Ecopetrol reported that with the authorization of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, it carried out the issuance and placement of external public debt bonds in the international market. The transaction took place on April 24, with a term of 10 years, for 2.000 million dollars, at a price of 99.112, a yield of 7%, a coupon rate of 6.875%, and a semiannual interest payment frequency. “The issuance book reached a value of over 5.000 million dollars, which is equivalent to 2.5 times what was offered and participation from more than 250 investors from the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America,” said Ecopetrol.

Source: Vanguardia Liberal
Date: April 28
Headline: Laboratory

Next week, the Ecopetrol Polyclinic will be able to start conducting COVID-19 tests in Barrancabermeja, as announced by oil executives. As a reminder, this workspace will have the capacity to process up to 192 tests in 8 hours, with a result delivery opportunity between 48 and 72 hours, which will be of vital importance to address the pandemic.

Source: laguajirahoy.com
Date: April 28
Headline: They donate biosecurity elements to the District to combat Covid-19 in Riohacha

A teamwork effort is being observed in the district administration, officials are fully committed, all rowing together to protect themselves from the Coronavirus. This time, the Planning Secretary, Fadner Fonseca Vizcaíno, managed an important donation from the company Ecopetrol. What was received includes personal protective equipment, biosecurity suits, surgical gowns, masks, disposable gloves, shoes, antibacterial gel, and other useful items for the medical team, which the mayor immediately donated to public IPS, Hospital Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, National Police, and the IPS Anashiwaya and Cid Salud. “For us as a company, it is very important to contribute to addressing the emergency, for the benefit of the inhabitants of the municipality of Riohacha and the department,” stated Patricia Vivas Avendaño, Regional Head of the Caribbean Environment, Ecopetrol's Sustainable Development Vice Presidency.

Source: caracol.com.co
Date: April 28
Headline: Laboratory for PCR tests inaugurated in Barrancabermeja

Daily, 50 PCR tests will be conducted and real-time results for COVID-19 will be available in the laboratory that was inaugurated in Barrancabermeja with the support of Ecopetrol. This week, pilot execution and operation began, and from May 4, tests will be conducted on potential Coronavirus patients. Alfonso Eljach, the mayor of the oil port, explained that anyone who is sick will be tested, and that test will go to an Ecopetrol clinic where the new laboratory is set up. «We have COVID tests directly in our city, which will allow for quick reactions, thanks to the new laboratory that will start operating on May 4.».

Source: laopcion.com.co
Date: April 28

Headline: Fiscal Police captured two people in a raid and seized 395 gallons of gasoline

As part of the shock plan “building security with more social sense,” the National Police, through the Fiscal and Customs Police, and with the support of the National Navy, resulted in the capture of two people and the seizure of 395 gallons of gasoline of national origin through a search and seizure order. Officials from the basic unit of criminal investigation proceeded to carry out the search and seizure in accordance with an order issued by the prosecutor's office, in the Santafecito neighborhood within the urban perimeter of the municipality of Arauca, where a property was verified, finding a large number of plastic containers known as “pimpinas” where a total of 395 gallons of gasoline were stored. A preliminary identification analysis of the hydrocarbon was conducted using the QUIMIOMARK technical equipment, which measures the marking of the fuel marked by the Colombian oil company Ecopetrol, resulting in a national origin.

Source: digame.com.co
Date: April 28
Headline: Barrancabermeja will have a laboratory that will allow for 50 daily Covid-19 samples to be taken

As a contribution to the health of the inhabitants of Barrancabermeja and the workers of the company, Ecopetrol concluded the adaptation and conditioning works of the molecular biology area of the Clinical Laboratory of the Magdalena Medio Health department of the company in this city. It will perform real-time PCR tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19. This area of the laboratory was built and equipped in record time after Ecopetrol signed a technical cooperation agreement with the Health Institute on March 28. For the performance of the tests that diagnose the virus. (…) Evaristo Vega, head of the Health department of Ecopetrol in Magdalena Medio explained that the samples processed by the laboratory from cases in the Barrancabermeja community will be sent directly by the District Health Secretariat and will correspond to the probable cases reported by the various Health Service Providers (EPS) in the city.

GREMIO

Source: El Tiempo
Date: April 28
Headline: ‘Deforestation is happening at an exaggerated rate, with or without a crisis’

Many are concerned that land grabbers, mafias, and other interests in cutting down the forest in the Amazon will take advantage of the health emergency that the country is experiencing due to covid-19, to continue burning and cutting down without any restrictions. (…) This registry that we propose is already established in criminal norms such as confiscation and registration that is used for any type of crime. Judges and prosecutors have the obligation to make decisions regarding deforested forests. If I locate the area, create a multipurpose cadastre, we will have a georeferencing of the areas that are attacked by environmental crimes, they are removed from commerce and we prevent illegality, later disguised as legality, from appearing. That is to say, we prevent very serious companies like agro-industrial, oil, and mining companies from continuing to usurp a territory that they initially took illegally. This registry would help us remove those properties from commerce, and that no one can exploit them.

Source: La República
Date: April 28
Headline: The world upside down. By: Miguel Ricaurte

A few weeks ago, we celebrated the robust closure of 2019 and the positive signals that the economy showed at the beginning of this year. But as the coronavirus spread around the world, and Saudi Arabia and Russia entered into a price war for oil, the situation turned adverse for emerging economies, especially for oil producers. Although OPEC, Russia, and their allies found common ground (ending the price dispute and agreeing to restrict crude oil production), these events remind us that despite the robust economic policy framework, Colombia depends on global performance. (…) Another short-term risk comes from the fact that the 2020 budget was estimated with an average price for Brent oil of US$60/barrel, higher than what is expected in the current scenario. Although Colombia's budget dependence on oil revenues dropped to only 5% last year (compared to an average of 10% of central government revenues over the last decade and nearly 20% in 2013), the net effect on fiscal accounts will be negative.

Source: La República
Date: April 28
Headline: Oil resumed losses due to inventory increase

This week started with a new blow to oil prices. According to the closing reported by Reuters, WTI fell 3,91% to US$13.04 and Brent, the benchmark for the Colombian market and the government's fiscal accounts, dropped 6,67% to US$19.99. According to a survey by the international agency, the resumption of crude losses is related to the increase that U.S. oil inventories would have presented for the fourteenth consecutive time. (…) However, the document warned that the announcements from several countries, including Colombia, about the resumption of some economic activities with maximum biosecurity protocols, will be a positive message that will generate greater confidence for the global market.

Source: La República
Date: April 28
Headline: Oil breaking point

For many investors, the change in vision of the Rockefeller Foundation, after 146 years in the oil business, is a turning point for the sector. The heirs of the oil fortune created by John D. Rockefeller, who founded Standard Oil, decided to liquidate all investments in oil and coal and also indicated that there is no reason to continue exploring in this sector. (LM)

Source: Portafolio
Date: April 28
Headline: Five measures that would contribute to a better recovery

Colombia and the world are going through one of their most complex economic and health moments in recent years, and although there is still uncertainty about how long it might take for the country to return to normalcy both socially and economically, experts confirm a series of measures that can still be taken to prevent the recovery, when the time comes, from being more complex or delayed. (…) In this last point, he said that it should be taken into account that once this situation is overcome, oil prices could remain depressed. For this reason, “it is likely that we will not be talking about a very prolonged crisis, but we will be on a path of lower growth.”.

Source: Portafolio
Date: April 28
Headline: Lost decade. By: Sergio Calderón Acevedo

In recent days, some analysts have taken the famous term “lost decade” off the shelf of economic history, coined after the disastrous 1980s in Latin America, which were characterized by hyperinflations, dictatorships, debt crises, the transformation of guerrillas into drug trafficking cartels, and terrorist bands. (…) The captain of that ship must recognize that oil is now a source of poverty, and that avocado and uchuva will not get us out of poverty. (…) And the person in charge of public finances must design a pension system and a tax system that make the functioning of the state viable. If this is not done in what remains of this year, our TES will be worth less than a barrel of oil during the virus times, and pensioners will die of hunger and not of flu.

Source: Portafolio
Date: April 28
Headline: Half-truths. By: Horacio Ayala Vela

It is said that in economic matters one must save in times of plenty. In Colombia, historically, the opposite happens: the piggy bank breaks before it is even fattened. Today it is deflated due to the economic urgencies of the pandemic, the dizzying drop in oil prices, and the reduction of income tax rates, which, by the way, have not had a positive impact on employment. Why not eliminate so many exemptions and tax benefits, distributing the burden equitably? It is the most convenient solution, but, unfortunately, politically less viable.

Source: El Colombiano
Date: April 28
Headline: WTI barrel price fell 24.56% yesterday

The reference WTI oil barrel closed yesterday at $12.78, which represented a decrease of 24.56% compared to the last close. According to EFE Agency, this drop is again due to the fact that crude oil is not being consumed due to the pandemic, and this generates storage issues.

Source: El Pilón
Date: April 28
Headline: Influencing food security. By: Luis Elquis Díaz Bohórquez

According to the projection of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), announced alongside the publication of the Global Report on Food Crises, prepared with 15 humanitarian and development partners, the number of people facing acute food insecurity (phase 3 of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, IPC / CH) is expected to rise to 265 million in 2020, 130 million more than the 135 million in that situation in 2019, as a result of the economic impact imposed by the covid-19 pandemic. (…) Before the World Health Organization made the announcement about the covid-19 pandemic, we were witnessing the debate in the oil business to agree on the establishment of the barrel price. The pandemic and the downturn or slowdown of the global economy led to the most historic and dramatic drop in crude oil prices. Although research and implementation of new energy resources from unconventional sources are being developed, oil will likely remain a traded commodity and a primary input for economic recovery; moreover, there is no exact data on the date of the last drop of this fossil fuel on earth; on the contrary, the controversial practice of fracking has improved its supply.

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