ACP as a source of information
Source: Portafolio – National
Date: May 11
Headline: Oil reserves ‘feel’ the coronavirus
The volatility in crude oil prices in international markets and the global pandemic due to covid-19 would take a toll on the country's oil reserves, following the sector's operation in 2020. (…) Calculations from the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH) indicate that, depending on the severity of the crisis, the country would stop producing about 130,000 barrels per day of oil. (…) A recent economic report from the Colombian Petroleum Association (ACP) highlights that if the price of Brent crude remains below US$40, crude production would decrease by between 30,000 and 35,000 barrels per day, which would also cut the country's crude reserves. “If production fell to these levels starting in April, and considering that in March a cut of 11,000 barrels per day was already reported, the average pumping in 2020 would be 850,000 barrels per day,” said Francisco José Lloreda, president of the ACP. It was reported in:portafolio.co (May 10), buenaventuraenlinea.com (May 11).
Source: El País – Regional
Author: Francisco José Lloreda Mera
Date: May 10
Headline: Reinventing oneself?
I don't want to reinvent myself: I want to return to my previous life. In these days of confinement, I have enjoyed being with my wife and children, discovering the new silence of the city and clearly seeing the eastern hills; stealing a few more hours of reading from the day, improvising in the kitchen, sharing a board game, catching up on Netflix series, and perfecting my online shopping skills and virtual meeting apps. But I miss many things, including going to the office; working from home is not the same. One no longer knows what day it is, weekends lose relevance, and holidays are similar. And this is considering I am privileged to have a job and be able to do it from home. It was reported in: elpais.com.co (May 10).
GREMIO
Source: El Tiempo
Date: May 11
Headline: We want to work with heavier crude: Ocensa
Alexánder Cadena weighs in on the controversy with oil companies over transportation rates with cheap oil. In times like the current one, where oil prices are punishing the entire industry in general, the company Oleoducto Central S. A. (Ocensa), controlled by Cenit, a transportation subsidiary of Ecopetrol that shares ownership with the Advent International fund, continues with efficiency initiatives. The president of the company, Alexánder Cadena, discusses the main projects and initiatives, including one that aims to transport much heavier crudes from the Llanos. (…) We understand that the problem for oil companies is cash flow, and by referring to the curve (of crude prices), with an upward trend in the medium and long term, Cenit's proposal is to defer those months until the rate improves. Continuing with the idea that the rate should keep decreasing does not add value.
Source: La República
Date: May 11
Headline: Ecopetrol will reveal its results for March today.
Today, Ecopetrol will reveal its consolidated financial results for the first quarter of the year. At market close, the company will disclose its situation, progress, and how covid-19 and international oil prices affected its cash flow. Although there are still no expectations due to the circumstances, days ago the company revealed that external and internal shocks and the advancement of the pandemic would negatively affect operational and financial results as of March. Specifically, the oil company revealed that its consolidated net earnings could fall between 52% and 65%. (…) For now, in those expectations, Ecopetrol estimated that the results for this first quarter will also reflect an increase in the deterioration of non-current assets in the range of $1.1 trillion or $ 1.2 trillion. This, according to the firm, driven mainly “by the expected short-term decrease in cash flow.".
Source: La República
Date: May 11
Headline: Mexico leads in bond issuance.
Some analysts have proposed that the Government issue international bonds as a new source of financing. For now, the regional ranking is as follows: Mexico (US$6.000 million); Peru (US$3.000 million); Panama (US$2.500 million); Chile (US$1.000 million); Guatemala (US$1.200 million); Paraguay (US$1.000 million). In companies, Ecopetrol, América Móvil, and Codelco lead.
Source: Portafolio
Date: May 11
Headline:National stocks among the hardest hit.
A bad moment with crude prices affecting Ecopetrol and more provisions impacting the banking sector is part of the explanation. The pandemic is affecting the planet, and in that sense, the economies of all countries have been hit, and although Colombia has comparatively fewer infections and deaths than others, its markets, particularly the stock market, are the second most punished in the world. (…) On the international front, there are two important factors: the dependence on the United States as the main trading partner of the country and the second is the importance (as few countries have) of oil revenues that have diminished this year due to a drop of more than 51% in the price of Brent crude, Colombia's benchmark, which has caused a drop of 38% in the price of the state oil company's shares. (…) Thus, Ecopetrol and Bancolombia, which together account for more than 30% of the Colcap index, of the shallow and illiquid local stock market, explain part of the overall decline.
Source: El Nuevo Siglo
Date: May 11
Headline: $6 trillion allocated to health emergency.
«WE HAVE allocated more than $6 trillion for everything related to the health contingency,» declared President Iván Duque this weekend in the company of Luis Guillermo Plata, manager for Comprehensive Attention to the Covid-19 pandemic. In response to a question about the source of the funds used to confront the coronavirus, the head of state recalled that after declaring the economic and social emergency, the Emergency Mitigation Fund (FOME) was created. (…) On Thursday, Ecopetrol and its subsidiaries Hocol, Esenttia, Cartagena Refinery, Cenit, Ocensa, and Oleoducto de Colombia (ODC) joined efforts to invest $10.500 million in the Caribbean region to mitigate the impacts generated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Source: El Nuevo Siglo
Date: May 11
Headline: Asset sales would be the government's last alternative.
The Executive today does not plan to sell assets or shares to obtain resources to finance the health contingency plan. However, the decree of the second State of Emergency left that possibility open. Although today the Government has no need to sell the assets it has in 105 national companies (nor has it said it will do so), Decree 637 that determined the second economic Emergency due to the coronavirus establishes that possibility. (…) The consolidation of the operational efficiency program, savings, and new international investments managed to leverage the good results of Ecopetrol in 2019. After adding five strategic alliances in the last year and consolidating its operation in the Permian, United States, the oil company announced that by the end of last year it reached a net profit of $13.25 trillion. (…) Of the total number of companies, the State has a majority stake in 39, among which Ecopetrol, Isa, Banco Agrario, Cisa, Cedenar, Cenit, National Development Finance, Finagro, Telecaribe, among others, stand out.
Topics
Source: El Tiempo
Date: May 11
Headline: Balance of foreign investment in Colombia
The arrival of dollars to Colombia for foreign direct investment (FDI) lost momentum but grew 5.7% between January 1 and April 27, 2020 (it had been rising 10% year-to-date) compared to the same period in 2019. According to the Bank of the Republic, US$3.493 billion will arrive. In oil and mining, it decreased by 29% to US$1.896 billion.
Source: El Espectador
Date: May 11
Headline: Take. By: Lisandro Duque Naranja
There is no difference between the adjective “attended” that Mrs. Marta Lucía Ramírez gave to the starving who cry out for food, or for subsidies, from the neighborhoods, and the frivolity with which the president, in a weekend moñona, disbursed $9.000 million for armored cars and $9.000 million for Esmad ammunition. (…) Simultaneously, the procedures were “flexibilized” - especially for consultations with communities - regarding licenses for extractive mining. They say that glyphosate is also being spilled and fracking is practiced. Well, and phones are tapped. Who would have believed that the robbers would give that use to the masks. Work in the Palace is productive and they don't even need the shadows.
Source: El Espectador
Date: May 11
Headline: Quarantined thoughts. By: Alfredo Molano Jimeno
The coronavirus pandemic, which seems to have come out of a science fiction novel, hit the heart of the system. Only an extraterrestrial invasion, a nuclear war, or a new big bang could make humanity reflect deeply on the atrocious way we live. (…) And it is that, definitely, this pandemic exposed the pending tasks we have as a society. A fragile health system, which has been stolen for decades by politicians and operators of EPS, ARL, and the long etcetera of “siglavivientes.” A labor informality that threatens to explode in riots because the majority of Colombians are starving these days. An economy entrenched in oil that today costs more to extract than what they pay for it. And a usurious financial sector, which is not willing to let go of the $21.5 trillion that they pocketed last year at the expense of the people's poverty.
Source: La República
Date: May 11
Headline: The dollar exchange rate would close the first half of May below $3.900
Last week, the price of the dollar returned to below $3.900 after 24 days, when on April 15 it reached $3.858.21. With this, the Representative Market Rate for today will be $3.882.27. (…) “We foresee an improvement in sentiment given the positive news on the trade front between China and the United States, combined with the possible restart of economic activities in some areas and a recovery in oil prices. All this could have a favorable impact on the local market,” commented. The analyst from Fiduciaria Central Camila Martínez added that the increased economic and oil demand globally, after production cuts, confirms an atmosphere of tranquility and relief in the exchange rate.
Source: El Espectador
Date: May 10
Headline: Towards a clean Colombia in 2035
What leads us to think that oil, diesel, and gas can be replaced in the medium term? We must address the problem from both the supply and demand sides, based on the premise that it is impossible to have a clean Colombia if the generation is not clean. Let’s start from the basis that in 2022 Colombia will have 22.5 GW of electricity generation capacity, of which 7 GW are from fossil fuels. (…) To understand oil, it is essential to know that 70% of crude oil is used directly and indirectly in transportation. We must closely examine the example of Norway, where about 60% of new cars sold are electric.
Institutional
Source: La Opinión
Date: May 09
Headline: Unanswered questions. By: Carlos Corredor Pereira
Edgard Morin said in Le Monde on April 20: “Intellectual comfort and habit are horrified by the messages that disturb them.” This phrase summarizes the varied analysis of the current situation that we read in local, national, and global newspapers. (…) And I move on to my second question. The value of a barrel of oil that in the ‘conservative’ estimates of Minister Carrasquilla was set at around US$60, is currently around US$24. But it turns out that the production of a barrel of oil in Colombia costs US$30, so the revenues of Ecopetrol and the nation have vanished. (…) My third question is: what will happen now, if even with the gradual reactivation of the transportation industry it is not foreseeable that oil will rise, even in the medium term, to levels that allow our economy to recover? And shouldn’t Ecopetrol reinvent itself and focus on promoting petrochemicals and generating products from oil that allow for a better life for Colombians?
Source: La W Radio
Date: May 08
Source: laschivasdelllano.com
Date: May 09
Headline: This is how the OCAD moved in the department of Casanare: 2012-2019
With the implementation of the General System of Royalties on January 1, 2012, the national government aimed to increase the scope of investment of these resources to all regions of Colombia, not just to the municipalities or departments linked to the exploitation of non-renewable natural resources [1]. As specified by the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH), this initiative sought to flexibilize the use of royalty resources to give greater autonomy to territorial entities and promote the utilization of economies of scale in the regions through free integration and formulation of investment projects in them. In Casanare, as cited in the document from the General Comptroller of the Nation CGR: SGR Report, “Today, about 14 oil companies operate, including Ecopetrol. According to the map of the General System of Royalties (SGR), there is oil production in 13 of the 19 municipalities of the department: Aguazul, Hato Corozal, Maní, Monterrey, Nunchía, Orocué, Paz de Ariporo, Pore, San Luis de Palenque, Tauramena, Trinidad, Villanueva, and Yopal (Royalties Map, 2016)” [2].
Colombian Association of Oil and Gas