Colombian oil workers feel the pinch of oil crisis

On Friday, Colombian state-owned oil company Ecopetrol announced that it would cut 3,000 oil sector jobs, people whom the company hires via contractors, due to its budget cuts. According to Campetrol, this new announcement brings the total number of jobs lost because of the country’s oil crisis to 6,000 in this year alone, in addition to the 40,000 people who lost their jobs over the last year and a half. El Heraldo also reported that, according to unnamed sources, Ecopetrol plans to shut down 5 oil fields in the country that can no longer be exploited profitably.

Colombian Labor Minister Luís Eduardo Garzón told Caracol Radio that oil sector workers have been hit hard by the crisis in the industry. He said that 10,000 contractors have lost their jobs due to the sharp decline in oil exploration. Garzón added that he does not yet know what will happen to the workers at the Rubiales oil field, which will be taken over by Ecopetrol later this year.

In related news, Caracol Radio also reported that 75% of the oil drills in Colombia are no longer running. Campetrol president Rubén Darío Lizarralde stressed to the news outlet that one of the main indicators of the health of the oil sector is drilling, and drilling in the country has almost completely shut down.

Portafolio reported on a presentation by leading Colombian economic analysts. The conclusion was blunt: Colombia needs to find something to replace its oil revenue, because in the short term it is gone, and in the long term, it isn’t coming back. The experts argued that Colombia needs to find a way to build a just and sustainable tax regime.