ACP as a source of information
Source: El Tiempo – National
Date: June 29
Headline: Taxes and employment suffer in oil regions
An unprecedented crisis faces the oil sector in the country as a result of the fatal combination of the coronavirus and the drop in oil prices, acknowledged the executive president of the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP), Francisco José Lloreda. (…) The greatest impact is on the private companies, which are medium or small enterprises where operating costs are higher than those of Ecopetrol, because they have to pay a very high fee for crude oil transportation through pipelines, unlike Ecopetrol, which receives money back because it is the main owner of the transportation. (…) Meta and Casanare, which produce more than 60 percent of the hydrocarbons in the country, will be affected by the decrease in royalty transfers by an amount that could exceed 20 percent compared to this year, according to projections from the National Hydrocarbons Agency. It was replicated in:eltiempo.com (June 28), buenaventuraenlinea.com (June 29), miputumayo.com.co (June 29), paisminero.co (June 29).
Source: panampost.com – National
Date: June 29
Headline: Colombian oil sector faces a severe crisis amid the pandemic
In the last three months, companies have had to close fields and wells, and there are companies that are in serious financial difficulties. The pandemic, border closures, mobility restrictions, and strict biosecurity protocols have put the oil sector in a deep recession as stated by the president of the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP), Francisco Lloreda. (…) Due to high operating costs, private companies have been particularly affected, as apart from royalties they must pay a high fee for crude oil transportation in the country, a cost that Ecopetrol does not face, due to having practically a monopoly on hydrocarbons within the country. (…) Ecopetrol itself had to close nearly 300 wells, which reduced production by about 24,000 barrels per day, representing a drop of 3.2 %.
Source: El País – Regional
Author: Francisco José Lloreda Mera
Date: June 28
Headline: Asphyxia
Another tax reform is announced, this time to cover the gap that the pandemic will leave. According to the newspaper Portafolio, an additional 20 trillion pesos will be required in 2022. An inexorable discussion that must take place next year, but not in isolation. With few exceptions, all economic sectors are struggling; they need a breather of at least one additional fiscal period with the current rules of the game. The usual measures are already starting to ring, the same as always, to hit the same: increase the corporate income tax, eliminate VAT refunds on imported capital goods, another wealth tax, and further tax high salaries. It was echoed in:elpais.com.co (June 28).
Source: Caracol Radio – National
Date: June 26
Source: usofrenteobrero.org – National
Date: June 26
Headline: Cenit is the most important asset of the national oil sector
In the current situation that the oil industry is experiencing, which is a consequence of the negative effects that the expansion of the coronavirus has had on the economy, it is evident that the most important asset of the entire Colombian oil industry is CENIT. In the USO, we know perfectly the value that the transportation segment represents for both Ecopetrol and the country. CENIT, which before its separation to become a subsidiary of Ecopetrol, was the Vice Presidency of Transportation, has always been an asset of transcendental importance to maintain Ecopetrol as an integrated company. Simply put, CENIT connects production with refining, and distributes gasoline, diesel, and aviation fuel that move Colombia. (…) The USO rejects the constant pressures from Ecopetrol's competitors to force it to sell its main subsidiary, or to lower transportation rates to absurd prices assuming the market risk of the entire industry, or to contract its revenues by offering discounts of up to 60% as the Colombian Petroleum Association ACP tried to promote.
GREMIO
Source: La República
Date: June 30
Headline: The leadership strategies of 103 CEOs
The College of Higher Studies in Administration (Cesa) and leadership expert Aldo Cívico presented the ‘Leadership Report 360’, the result of a survey conducted with 103 presidents and general managers of the country's main companies, a group of leaders in which 68.31% stated that the work of the general manager is “very challenging” today. (…) The report, which included companies such as Ecopetrol, Bancolombia, Corona, Alpina, Rappi, Grupo Nutresa, EPM, Avianca, L’Óreal, Tigo, Cementos Argos, Bimbo, and Cine Colombia, among others, summarized 11 strategies that, according to the executives, are the most effective for facing current challenges such as, for example, the difficulty of attracting and retaining the best talent, new competitors, improving ineffective internal performance, rebuilding public trust in businesses and companies, ensuring good labor relations, and cybersecurity.
Source: La República
Date: June 30
Headline: Experts' recommendations for investing amid the situation
After a drop of around 30% in global stock indices, individuals have identified the situation as an opportunity to access the stock market. In fact, in the first quarter, for the first time in the last eight years, the number of shareholders in the Colombia Stock Exchange (BVC) increased instead of continuing to decline. (…) Graph. Volume of shares traded in May. Figures in millions. The most traded. Ecopetrol. 1,331,712
Source: El País
Date: June 30
Headline: That's enough, President. By: Demetrio Arabia
In bullfighting, it is often said that a bullfighter is prolonging a fruitless performance when the bull is already lacking mobility. A dull bull, the narrators would say. And something similar is happening with our President Duque, seeing that his news program is also fading. (…) We also expected some explanation regarding the Ecopetrol novel and its subsidiary BIO-ENERGY, built in the Eastern Plains to produce ethanol, which - oh surprise! - over time began to import ethanol from the USA, because ours turned out to be insufficient and more expensive. (The cost of that tamale exceeded 900 MILLION USD. Three times that of Reficar. And a thousand Colombians on the street).
Source: El Informador
Date: June 30
Headline: Active search for Covid-19 continues in Pescaíto
The district Health Secretariat, accompanied by the EPS Coosalud, Nueva Eps, Mutual ser, Cajacopi, Famisanar, Salud Total, AMBUQ, Comparta, Dusakawi Indigenous, EAPB Ecopetrol, and EAPB Sanidad Policía, through their IPS (sample-taking laboratories) Casalud, Subsanar, Clinimedical, Tumedic, and Ciaric, continue with the active search (tracking), through sample collection for the early detection of Covid-19 in different neighborhoods of the capital of Magdalena.
Source: Caracol Radio
Date: June 30
Source: casanarenoticias.com
Date: June 30
Headline: Ecopetrol delivered 5,400 food kits to the department of Casanare
With the delivery of 2,950 food kits to the Casanare Governor's Office on Friday, June 26, Ecopetrol completed 5,400 humanitarian aids provided for the most vulnerable families in the department. The kits, which were delivered in coordination with the Colombian Red Cross and the Departmental Council for Disaster Risk Management, will be distributed by the Departmental Administration to low-income families in the municipalities of Yopal (1,015 kits), Paz de Ariporo (700 kits), and Villanueva (1,235 kits). The aids intended for the municipality of Yopal will be delivered in communities of the neighboring corregimientos to Ecopetrol's operation, in this case El Morro (715 kits), El Charte (200 kits), La Niata (200 kits), and Mata de Limón (150 kits).
Source: prensalibrecasanare.com
Date: June 30
Headline: The Yopal Mayor's Office delivered aid over the weekend in the rural sector and in the La Bendición citadel.
Over the weekend, the mayor of Yopal, Luis Eduardo Castro, traveled to the corregimiento of La Chaparrera and, together with the Social Manager Silvia Catalina Vega Calderón, delivered 300 humanitarian aids. This delivery was achieved with the support of community leaders and officials from the Municipal Administration. The humanitarian aids are part of the management carried out by the mayor before oil companies. “We continue reaching more and more families; this is the result of the management I have been undertaking to provide institutional support in such complex times,” said the local mayor. Additionally, the Mayor announced that the 1,015 markets received by Ecopetrol and the Casanare Governor's Office will be taken to the corregimientos of Mata de Limón, La Niata, El Morro, and El Charte.
Topics
Source: La República
Date: June 30
Headline: This week, analysts expect the dollar to be at $3,785 on average.
Since June 19, when the dollar was at $3,733.27, its price has been showing gradual increases. Specifically, the currency increased $25, and the Representative Market Rate (TRM) is currently at $3,758. According to analysts consulted by LR, during this week the dollar would continue to rise, as they project it will be quoted at $3,785 on average. (…) The analysts surveyed by LR projected a barrel of WTI oil at an average of US$37.5, a level it has been at in recent weeks. In general, those consulted indicated that the growing number of pandemic cases in the U.S. and China, combined with a strong increase in crude oil production in the North American country, halted the rise in oil prices that had been seen in previous weeks.
Source: La República
Date: June 30
Headline: Proposals to recover the economy.
A public debt that borders the ceiling of 60%, a historic fiscal deficit of 8.2% of GDP, and the alert of an economic contraction of almost 8% are just some of the effects that are currently quantified as the result of the covid-19 pandemic on the Colombian productive apparatus. (…) This behavior aligns with other indicators from the fourth month of the year, which reveal the impact on various social spheres such as unemployment (19.8%) and consumer confidence (-41.3%). And with oil production in May, which fell 18.15%. (…) The first to announce their recipe were former Finance Ministers Roberto Junguito and José Antonio Ocampo, who agreed that it is necessary to propose a tax reform. Roberto Junguito served as Finance Minister twice and was co-director of the Bank of the Republic. Today, he qualifies government spending as adequate and points out that for recovery, it is necessary to increase productive supply and design a land policy to stop over-depending on oil revenues.
Source: El Colombiano
Date: June 30
Headline: The Government's accounts.
In the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MFMP), the document presented by the government last Friday, the new fiscal strategy is revealed in light of the macroeconomic shock that the Colombian economy is experiencing as a consequence of the pandemic. The shock has combined different factors such as the weakening of external demand, due to the difficulties of our trading partners and the collapse of oil and coal prices, the sudden halt of part of production, and the collapse of internal demand.
Source: laopinion.com.co
Date: June 30
Headline: The confusing homicide that causes tension
The events were recorded in the Filo Guamo path in the municipality of Teorama. As the hours pass and the Prosecutor's Office advances in its investigations, more details of what happened on Saturday morning in the Filo Guamo path, a rural area of Teorama, where Salvador Jaime Durán died from several gunshots, are being revealed. A commission of four officials from the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI) from Cúcuta, and the Ninth Prosecutor of Life traveled to that remote point of Catatumbo to verify what truly happened. And that is how the judicial authorities learned that minutes before the 22-year-old man was found dead, the Army troops stationed in that place, guarding the pipeline, reported to their superiors a ‘combat encounter’ against two men who were moving on a motorcycle.
Institutional
Source: El Espectador
Date: June 29
Headline: The intertwined story of Odebrecht and Carlos Plata (I)
This wealthy and well-connected businessman has been mentioned in power circles for years. After meeting with former presidents Pastrana and Uribe, they went out to denounce possible financing from Odebrecht to Santos' 2014 campaign. (…) This lawyer, who in December 2019 had an investigation archived by the Prosecutor's Office for his alleged participation in the contracting carousel in Bogotá, was one of the first people who worked with the multinational when it arrived in the country in the 90s to work with British Petroleum (BP) in Cusiana, one of the largest oil fields in the country. (…) Between June and August 2008, Plata began negotiations with Pacific Rubiales via email, which ended on bad terms. (…) However, in less than two days, the oil company backed out saying it had little information about the initiative and that it was running out of time to start the procedures and formalize the contract with the ANH.
Source: El Nuevo Siglo
Date: June 28
Headline: Duque has made nine changes in his cabinet
President Iván Duque has not been able to fulfill his goal of keeping the cabinet intact for four years. “I want a cabinet for four years. Political representation is the least of my concerns. I want a cabinet that unites the country, that gives it a new air and allows public policy to be refreshed. If we do that well, we will give it a good breath of fresh air,” Duque said at the time, adding that “I do not believe that governability is affected by how one chooses the cabinet. (…) In recent weeks, two changes were made abruptly in the ministries of ICT and Mines, with the departure of Sylvia Constaín and María Fernanda Suárez, to bring in Karen Abudinen and Diego Mesa, respectively.
Colombian Association of Oil and Gas