La industria petrolera colombiana bajo estrés

Los precios del petróleo han caído 60% en seis meses, afectando gravemente los ingresos del gobierno y la economía colombiana por lo general. Parece que los precios del petróleo no van a recuperarse muy pronto, y las petroleras ya han empezado a introducir medidas de bajar costos, cortando sus actividades de exploración.

Ahora, la conversación se enfoca en los 100,000 empleos colombianos generado por el sector petrolero del país. Fracisco Lloreda, presidente de la Asociación Colombiana de Petróleo, se reunió con el ministro de trabajo, Luis Eduardo Garzón, para discutir las medidas que debería tomar el país para evitar un despido masivo para los trabajadores en el sector petrolero. Garzón advirtió que la contracción en el sector podría resultar en despidos para entre 20,000 y 25,000 personas. Sin embargo, Lloreda insistió, “no es serio hablar de cifras de despido masivo en las empresas sin haberlas revisado. No podemos hablar de planes de despido masivo.”

Además, según el presidente de la ACP, los líderes de los sindicatos ya han indicado que están dispuestos a renunciar algunas de sus conquistas para evitar la posibilidad de un despido masivo. De todas maneras, el gobierno está analizando cuales opciones están a su disposición para disminuir el impacto de la contracción petrolera sobre los trabajadores.

En una noticia relacionada, los resultados de la Encuesta de BNamericas sobre Hidrocarburos para el 2015 demostraron que los observadores de la industria petrolera creen que el sector de hidrocarburos en América Latina será menos atractivo para inversión este año en comparación con el año anterior. Sin embargo, 80% de los respondientes a la encuesta dijeron que creen que América Latina sí será un proveedor importante para la siguiente década. Colombia, quien ha sido el país más atractivo para inversión, ahora está en el segundo puesto después de México.

Colombia's oil industry under severe stress

Oil prices have fallen 60% in six months, severely affecting government revenues in Colombia and the broader Colombian economy. With oil prices showing no signs of recovery, oil companies have already started implementing cost-cutting measures, cutting back significantly on new exploration activities.

Now, the conversation has turned to the 100,000 Colombian jobs created by the country’s oil industry. Francisco Lloreda, president of the Colombia Petroleum Association, met with Colombian Labor minister Luis Eduardo Garzón to discuss the measures that the country will need to take to avoid massive layoffs for workers in the oil sector.  Garzón warned that the contraction in the oil sector could lead to 20,000 to 25,000 losing their jobs. Lloreda however insisted that it is too early to start talking about massive oil sector layoffs until all the facts and figures have been studied.

In addition, according to the ACP president, union leaders have already indicated that they are willing to make major concessions in order to avoid the prospect of layoffs. Regardless, the government is analyzing what options are at its disposal for lessening the oil sector’s contraction on its labor pool.

In related news, the results of BNamericas’ 2015 Oil and Gas Survey showed that oil industry observers believe that the Latin American oil and gas sector will be less attractive for investment this year compared to the previous year. Nonetheless, 80% of the respondents to the survey said that they believe Latin America will be an increasingly important supplier of oil and gas over the next decade. Colombia, which for the last three years had been the most attractive source of oil sector investment, fell to second place, behind Mexico.

Conflict between oil company and indigenous people in Peru

Argentine oil company Pluspetrol once again finds itself in conflict with local indigenous communities in Peru, this time with the Achuar people of Pampa Hermosa. The local and international press covered the incident extensively, reporting that almost four hundred hundred indigenous people took control of oil wells in Peru’s largest oil field, 1-AB. Reuters said that daily oil production of 3,100 barrels of oil stopped on Monday. Reuters also quoted Carlos Sandi, president of local indigenous group Feconaco, as saying that the indigenous people are protesting for compensation for the oil company’s use of local infrastructure and the construction of a sawmill. Pluspetrol’s lease on the oil field expires this summer, and given the lengthy history of conflict between the oil company and the local communities, it remains to be seen whether the company will decide to renew its lease. Protestors also blocked a local river, preventing a shipment of food and supplies from reaching the Pluspetrol camp.

The story of the conflict between Pluspetrol and the Achuar indigenous group was by far and away the biggest story of the day. It is worthwhile to contrast the press coverage of this flare-up in the conflict with the one that occurred a few months ago. Previously, Pluspetrol was slow to comment, initially not releasing a press release. The local indigenous communities however were much better organized, and quickly contacted the national and international press. Because they were the only ones talking, they were able to completely control the message and dictate how events unfolded. This time around, Pluspetrol had its communications team prepared, and quickly issued a press release, communicating its version of events.

The Colombian mining agency works to clear up its mining permit backlog

The Colombian business journal Portafolio reported that the Colombian National Mining Agency (ANM) plans to review 770 applications for mining permits in just the first two months of this year. This year marks a change in the audit process for mining titles: in the past, it was contracted out to a private company, but now the ANM will do them itself. ANM President Natalia Gutiérrez explained, “This process includes a document review, field visits, a review of technical, legal, environmental, and economic aspects, and security.”

In a separate article, Portafolio reported that the backlog of applications for mining concessions awaiting processing by the ANM currently numbers 8,406. The backlog has increased since May 2013, when it numbered 7,066 cases. The ANM, and the Colombian ministries of the Interior, Mining, the Environment, and Agriculture, are working to come to an agreement to speed up the process and clear the bottleneck. However, there appears to be a conflict with a law passed by the Colombian Constitutional Court in March 2014.

In unrelated news, the National Mining Agency announced that just 17 percent of silver oil and gold extracted in Colombia comes from mining projects with a valid mining permit. This statistic just goes to show the staggering scale of illegal mining in Colombia. This activity is concentrated in three Colombian departments: Antioquia, Caldas, and Chocó. According to Santiago Ángel Urdinola, president of the Colombian Mining Association, the illegal mining of precious metals limits the operations of formal mining companies.

The Peruvian mining industry's hopes for 2015

While Colombia’s economy has been rocked by the falling price of oil, the Peruvian economy is even more dependent on one sector of its economy, in this case mining. Peruvian Deputy Minister of Mines Guillermo Shinno told reporters that he believes foreign investment in the Peruvian mining industry will reach similar levels in 2015 to those of 2014, or approximately $8.5 billion. Despite the slowdown in global demand for the Peru’s mining projects, investment will continue apace, mostly thanks to a few extremely large mining projects.

In related news, Peru plans to auction off the Michiquillay copper and gold mining project by the end of 2015. Deputy Minister Shinno told reporters that the government is currently working to head off any possible social conflicts with the local communities in the Cajamarca region where the project is located. The value of the Michiquillay site is estimated to be $700 million, but Anglo American pulled out from the project in December of last year, so the Peruvian government will be eager to defuse any possible conflicts with the Cajamarca locals.

The Peruvian Mines and Energy issued the environmental permit for a $1.5 billion iron ore mine owned by China’s Jinzhao Mining. According to the report, the Ministry also issued an environmental permit for the $340 million port that will export the iron ore. The report noted that though Peru produces considerable amounts of copper, gold, silver, and zinc, it only has one iron ore mine currently in production.

Julio César Gallardo, president of the Peruvian Mining trade association Camiper, told the Economist that Peru is aiming to be come the world’s leading producer of copper by 2020, with hopes of displacing its rival and neighbor, Chile, the worlds current leading producer of copper. The report stressed that the key to this rise will be overcoming the constant problem of social conflicts with the local communities.