MORTAL STAB OF THE COMMUNITIES TO THE OIL INDUSTRY?

The Colombian government fully understands what the oil industry means to the economy and to the social and infrastructure development of the country. It also understands that the big shortages of the national budget occur due to fewer incomes of the National Revenues that come from the oil industry, as a result of the recent low international prices of crude oil.
Although the government is aware of what has been mentioned above, it is still surprising how the central government neither designs actions nor mobilizes its management structure in terms of sitting down with communities of different regions of the country and warning them, about the seriousness of their unsettling actions against oil production which is trying to survive strangulating its operation costs,

to make the business hardly viable in many production fields of the country. The communities seem to be turning their backs on the reality of the industry, without understanding the reasons of the new economic frame of the oil industry that can´t be controlled by the country. This is indeed quite a simple frame to understand.
The issue isn´t only frightening away venture capital investors for exploration activities; it is also stabbing oil production fields, most of which can´t economically deal with the irruptions of the communities, ethnic groups, etc., to whom socializations and information sharing of the local authorities and the industry during several years, don´t seem to be sufficient or convincing occasions.
We have already stated in previous Editorials topics such as: National Concertation with Communities and Human Duties which are stated once again in This Editorial.
Cases such as the ones in Norte de Santander, Huila and Meta are a faithful reflection of the unsatisfactory situation that the sector faces today which becomes unsustainable due to the millionaire economic losses and the adverse technical impact that derives from them.
Either the central government stops watching this issue from the sidelines and intervenes in this situation or the oil industry in the hydrocarbons exploration and exploitation sectors will not be sustainable in the mid-term. Time is running out!!

ECOP S.A.
August 4st 2016