On Tuesday, Bloomberg
reported that Colombian state-owned oil company Ecopetrol SA took the first
steps towards selling its plastics division. Unnamed well-placed sources
explained that this move is in keeping with Ecopetrol’s strategy, announced in
May, of divesting itself from “non-core assets” to focus on its oil and natural
gas production.
Ecopetrol has been left reeling from the collapse in global
oil prices and the paltry investment in oil exploration in Colombia, leadings
its share price to plummet by 54% over the last year. New company president
Juan Carlos Echeverry is working hard to implement his new strategy and try to
turn the company around.
In other news, the National Mining Agency (ANM) named
Javier García Granados as its new President earlier this week. Granados was
promoted internally from his previous position as vice president for Mining
Security, Monitoring, and Control. Granadas replaces Natalia Gutierrez, who
supposedly resigned because of frequent clashes with high-ranking ministers.
Amidst the turmoil at the ANM, neo-paramilitary group “Los
Urabeños” assassinated
a mining leader in Segovia, Antioquia, effectively shutting down Gran Colombia
Gold’s mines in the region. In a WhatsApp message, the Urabeños threatened to
kill anyone who went back to work. Reports
estimated
that between 500 and 800 of the threatened miners in the region did not report
to work at the El Silencio, El Castillo, and Providencia mines.
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