Though Ecopetrol is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, the Colombian government controls almost 90% of the shares, and the board of directors is dominated by Petro appointees. Gustavo Petro has held an anti-petroleum and anti-mining stance, and is completely opposed to hydraulic fracturing (fracking) technology in the oil and gas industry.

Referring to the joint venture, Petro said during a televised cabinet meeting, “I want that operation to be sold and to invest the money in clean energies…We are against fracking because fracking is the death of nature and the death of humanity.”

With Petro opposed to drilling in Colombia, Ecopetrol’s Texas operations made up over 11% of the company’s production in 2024. Under Petro’s governance, Colombia has gone from being a net exporter to a net importer of natural gas. Last October, Ecopetrol suspended plans to drill its Komodo-1 well in the Caribbean due to Petro’s opposition. Ecopetrol is led by Ricardo Roa (above, right), appointed as Ecopetrol’s CEO after running Petro’s presidential campaign.

Medellín-based utility Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) projected during the 2024 Oil & Gas Congress that retail natural gas prices are predicted to rise 100% during 2025 due to the resulting scarcity.

See also: Petro Administration Announces Natural Gas Rationing in Colombia Despite Abundant Hydrocarbon Resources

Above photo: Colombian President Gustavo Petro (l) with campaign manager & now Ecopetrol CEO Ricardo Roa (resolution enhanced photo: ANH)

Breaking news update:

Colombian President Moves To Block Ecopetrol Occidental Permian Basin Joint Venture

This agreement includes a drilling plan for 34 wells between April 2025 and June 2026, in addition to those being executed under the current development plan for the first months of 2025.

The agreement also maintains the possibility of signing a new extension of the Development Plan in the future, subject to the macroeconomic environment, industry situation, and partners’ interests. Furthermore, the two companies will keep active an independent contract for the development of the Delaware sub-basin, will remain in force until 2027.

After five years of operations, Ecopetrol Permian and Occidental have achieved positive operational and financial results in the Permian Basin, reflected in the growth of production and its contribution to the Ecopetrol Group’s results.

Ecopetrol Permian’s 2025 Plan for Midland and Delaware sub-basins will include the drilling of approximately 91 development wells, with an estimated investment of $885 million USD and an average annual production of approximately 90,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (net to Ecopetrol Permian). This plan aligns with the Ecopetrol Group’s strategy, capital discipline, and the diversification of its portfolio.

Permian is recognized as one of the basins with the largest hydrocarbon reserves and one of the most productive in the world, with robust infrastructure for the development of oil projects.

Headline Photo credit: ARMBRUSTERBIZ / Pixabay

The company reported an EBITDA margin of 44.8%, which, although robust, indicates the impact of external market pressures. Ecopetrol’s production averaged 698,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from the previous quarter. This decline was influenced by operational challenges and a reduction in international oil prices, which affected the company’s revenue stream.

Internal Disputes Over Oslo Project Approval

In a related matter, controversy arose within the company regarding the approval of Project Oslo, including the CrownRock purchase, with Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY), a key initiative intended to expand Ecopetrol’s portfolio and increase future production. Former board member Andrés Moreno publicly confirmed that the Oslo project had indeed been approved by the board, countering claims by Ricardo Roa (above right), the current Ecopetrol CEO and former campaign manager for Colombian President Gustavo Petro (above left),that suggested otherwise.

Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub In Bogotá, Colombia (photo: Loren Moss)

Moreno’s statements come amid ongoing debates within Ecopetrol about the direction of the company’s investments and its commitment to balancing profitability with environmental stewardship. The former board member emphasized that the decision to proceed with the Oslo project was made following thorough deliberations, considering both the potential benefits and risks involved.

Ecopetrol and Occidental had negotiated details of the deal for months, but in the final phase, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who is anti-petroleum and especially anti-hydraulic fracturing, intervened to block the deal behind the scenes, leaving Ecopetrol’s board to face investor and public scrutiny.

“We worked on that deal from March until last week, and we thought we were done, but President Petro of Colombia did not approve it,” said Occidental CEO Vicki Hollub said in a conference call with investors. “He (President Petro) has made it very clear to the world that he is anti-oil, anti-gas, anti-fracking and anti-United States . And with those three attacks, he practically took Ecopetrol out of the agreement,” Hollub remarked.

Hollub did not hide her wrath, saying that “Unfortunately, there are others in the world like Petro. And there are some, in fact, in the United States like Petro, who believe that oil and gas should disappear and believe that we should no longer be an industry and that renewable energy will be all that is needed to move forward and help with the climate transition.”

The Oslo project, which would have boosted production and diversify Ecopetrol’s assets, has faced criticism over its potential environmental and financial risks. Some stakeholders have expressed concerns about the project’s alignment with the company’s long-term sustainability goals, especially in light of global shifts towards renewable energy.

Future Outlook

Ecopetrol’s management said that it remains committed to navigating the current market challenges while focusing on operational efficiency and strategic investments. The company plans to continue its exploration and production activities, with an emphasis on maintaining financial stability and enhancing shareholder value.

As Ecopetrol moves forward, it will need to address both the external economic pressures, lack of credibility and internal disagreements that have surfaced, particularly regarding major projects like Oslo. The outcome of these discussions and the company’s ability to adapt to changing market conditions will likely play a crucial role in shaping its future trajectory.

Ecopetrol had a previous agreement with Anadarko Petroleum but that deal ended last year as Anadarko was taken over by Occidental Petroleum.

The agreement includes Shell’s financing of Ecopetrol’s investments by Shell, and Shell taking over operation of the blocks, drilling of an appraisal well in the area by the end of 2021 and the completion of the first production test, once the approvals from the authorities are received. If these activities provide positive results, the discoveries could be further developed and consequently, expand the country’s gas supply in the medium term, potentially exceeding 3 TCF (trillion cubic feet) according to Ecopetrol’s estimates.

“This agreement with a first class ally like Shell, recognized for its experience operating in ultra-deep waters and in the development and commercialization of high-impact gas projects allows us to prove the production capacity of these reservoirs, and their possible future development,” said Felipe Bayón, the president of Ecopetrol. “We are very satisfied with this alliance that allows us to augment the reserves and production of an environmentally friendly fuel; key in our energy transition, and strengthening the strategic relationship with Shell, a company with whom we are already working in el Presal de Brazil, and in the US Gulf of México.”

“This position is a significant step for Shell in Colombia and South America. The agreement unites the regional knowledge of Ecopetrol with Shell’s experience in deep waters and integrated natural gas solutions,” said Ana María Duque, president of Shell in Colombia. “We have collaborated with Ecopetrol in multiple opportunities since its creation, and we are very happy to continue demonstrating our commitment of over 84 years working with Colombia in its energy resources.”

The agreement between Ecopetrol and Shell is subject to approval by the National Hydrocarbon Agency (ANH) and the fulfillment of other customary transaction conditions.

Left to right: Juan Manuel Rojas, VP Strategy & Business Development of Ecopetrol; Felipe Bayón, CEO of Ecopetrol; Manoela Lopes, VP of Exploration, Central & South America for Shell, Victor Vega, Venture Manager for Shell.

Photos courtesy Ecopetrol

Ecopetrol subsidiary Ecopetrol Permian LLC has purchased 49% of the Rodeo Midland Basin LLC entity, a Delaware corporation. In the 1.5 Billion USD deal, Occidental will retain 51% of the entity through its affiliate Occidental Midland Basin LLC. Ecopetrol made a down payment of approximately $876.5 million USD of which $126.5 million correspond to the estimated investment in development of the plan for 2019.

The fields already have two drills in action, and two wells are in final stages of completion. They expect production by the end of 2019 and expect to have 4 wells operating by the end of 2020. This gives Ecopetrol proven reserves of 160 million barrels equivalent at the close of 2019.

Just last week, the British government imposed an immediate ban on hydraulic fracturing nationwide. The country has been rocked by intense anti-fracking protests who have blocked traffic, with protesters chaining themselves to vehicles, even obstructing air transport and public transportation. The trigger for the ban? A “2.9 magnitude tremor” in the English town of Blackpool, near hydraulic fracturing activities by British energy company Cuadrilla.

This article does not seek to take a position on hydraulic fracturing, rather it investigates the way that Active Measures are used to manipulate unwitting civil society groups to achieve policy aims.

For some context, in the past day, the US Geological survey reported 53 natural earthquakes in the US alone, with a 2.5 magnitude or above. The vast majority of these are not even noticed by humans and go unreported in the news. Meanwhile, a study of micro-tremors in Surrey and Sussex, England determined conclusively that they were not caused by hydraulic fracturing, and even had they been, they were too small to present any danger. Still, the media attention has caused UK support for hydraulic fracturing to plunge.

In Ohio, a state in the US Midwest where hydraulic fracturing has taken place for decades, a series of “micro-seismicity” tremors not exceeding 2.2 were detected by scientific sensors, “none of which were reported felt by the public” according to a 2013 article by the Seismological Society of America.

Pungesti is a small, impoverished town in NATO member country Romania. The mayor, Vlasa Mircia thought the town had hit it big when Chevron Petroleum (NYSE: CVX) leased land for shale gas exploration. But soon, anti-fracking activists appeared from other parts of Romania, clashing violently with the police. The mayor was temporarily run out of town.

Recommended reading: Shale Gas U-Turns in Bulgaria and Romania: The Turbulent Politics of Energy and Protest, published in the Journal of European Management & Public Affairs Studies

What is behind the resistance? “Everything that has gone wrong is from Gazprom,” Mayor Mircia told the New York Times. Gazprom, the petroleum giant controlled by the Russian government stands to benefit from European and global dependency on Russian oil and gas exports. The UK relies on gas imports to heat 80% of its housing, so a shock to imports could freeze the country in the winter. Domestic shale gas production would provide a degree of energy independence that the country does not now have. Due largely to hydraulic fracturing, the United States has gone from being a petroleum importer to a petroleum exporter.

Former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has been very blunt, and points the finger directly at Vladimir Putin. “I have met allies who can report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental organizations – environmental organizations working against shale gas – to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas.”

“Russians are behind the protests against Chevron.” — Anca Maria Cernea

For his part, President Putin, former KGB chief, has portrayed himself as an environmentalist. “Fracking poses a huge environmental problem. Places that have allowed it no longer have water coming out of their traps but a blackish slime.” Of course, not only can Putin pump Russian oil as he wishes, with or without hydraulic fracturing, he does not permit the kind of protests and civil disobedience in Russia that he is being accused of fomenting elsewhere to suit his needs.

Curiously, Gazprom subsidiary NIS is exploring for shale gas in Western Romania but unlike Chevron, has faced no protests.

Countries generally won’t go into specifics or “on the record” like Rasmussen did on such allegations because the information is gathered through intelligence networks. However, a NATO official told UK media outlet The Guardian that “Russia has been using a mix of hard and soft power in its attempt to recreate a sphere of influence, including through a campaign of disinformation on many issues, including energy. In general, the potential for Russia using energy supplies as a means of putting pressure on European nations is a matter of concern. No country should use supply and pricing terms as tools of coercion.”

The South American country of Guyana found itself the victim of disinformation in August when Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson M. V. Zakharova claimed (falsely) that the United Kingdom was constructing a military base in the tropical country, and “there have already arrived several dozen so-called ‘Refugees’ from Venezuela to undergo training as part of reconnaissance and sabotage groups and then to be dispatched to Venezuelan territory in order to destabilize the situation and carry out appropriate actions – from extremist to terrorist.”

Guyana has a once in history opportunity. If it can avoid The Resource Curse discussed in depth in “The Dictator’s Handbook,” it can go from being one of the poorest countries in The Americas to an very high standard of living and long term economic prosperity—or, it can mismanage, squander & steal the proceeds. The choice is clear.

The government of Guyana issued a statement denouncing the slander. Guyana, which sits between Brazil and Russian ally Venezuela has recently discovered a vast petroleum field of high quality light crude oil in its offshore waters. This has prompted the Venezuelan dictatorship to attempt to claim the offshore territory for itself. In 1899 the dispute was settled by arbitration, in 1962, with the prospects of petroleum riches apparent, Venezuela reneged on the agreement and again disputed the territory.

By 1990 relations had improved enough for Venezuela to sponsor Guyana’s 1990 bid to join the Organization of American States, but under Nicolas Maduro’s dictatorship of Venezuela the belligerence has returned. In 2013 the Venezuelan navy seized an oil exploration vessel operating in Guyana’s waters and working on behalf of Anadarko Petroleum (Now part of Occidental Petroleum (NYSE: OXY)). After discovering potentially 5 billion barrels of crude oil in Guyana claimed territory, ExxonMobil is making major investments in the country, and so far, the environmental activists don’t seem to have significantly mobilized.

The Stabroek Block offshore oil field in Guyana is 25% owned by CNOOC-China National Offshore Oil Corporation, 30% by Hess (NYSE: HES), and 45% owned and operated by ExxonMobil.

They may not need to. Venezuelan dictator and Putin supplicant Nicolas Maduro is doing the job for them. Again, in December of last year, the Venezuelan Navy stopped a Bahamian flagged exploration ship contracted to ExxonMobil and working in Guyanese waters, 90 miles from the border. After the Venezuelan navy approached, the ship pulled anchor and fled to international waters.

The US State Department has warned Venezuela that “Guyana has the sovereign right to explore and exploit resources in its territorial waters,” and stated that it was monitoring the situation.

In July, Baltic sea coastal country and former Soviet satellite country Latvia shut down news organization Baltnews.lv. Government censorship? No, the Baltic state and NATO member discovered that Baltnews.lv was an instrument of Russian intelligence. The website was registered to Rossiya Segodnya, controlled by Dmitry Kiselyov, a propagandist directly promoted to his position by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kiselyov is under restrictive sanction by the European Union for his participation in Active Measures. Rossiya Segodnya is the renamed Radio Comintern from the Soviet Union.

The vast majority of activists are very genuine in support of their causes, whether the environment, a political ideology, animals, social justice, or countless other legitimate issues. However, it is not very difficult for hostile actors, such as governments in this case to coopt these efforts.

Read the official US government final report: The Environmental Protection Agency’s Study of Hydraulic Fracturing and Its Potential Impact on Drinking Water Resources

Romanian activist George Epurescu told the New York Times that his activist group, originally established to fight political corruption, was educated about “the shale gas problem” from Bulgarian activists. Russian-leaning Bulgaria canceled a shale gas license issued to Chevron and banned Fracking in 2012 after protests and organized activism from groups that had not focused previously on environmentalism.

The domestic energy alternative would have been beneficial to Bulgaria, a country that saw industry stop and citizens freeze in the winter of 2009 when Russia cut off its natural gas supply to Ukraine, Eastern and central Europe. With the ban on hydraulic fracturing, Bulgaria remained completely dependent upon Gazprom and Russia for essential natural gas. Recently, Bulgaria has sought to diversify its gas supply, but still remains dependent upon imports.

The Case in Colombia & The US

Colombia continues to discover oil; just last month Ecopetrol announced it struck additional oil in the La Paz Formation that lies under the Santander department, in the east of the country. On the other hand, due to growth in domestic consumption, the country is in danger of becoming a natural gas and oil importer. According to Colombia’s National University, the country will face gas shortages as soon as 2024 without significant changes in projected supply or demand.

As the country improves its standard of living, more and more families are connected to municipal natural gas networks, or cooking with compressed gas, and with the intent of “going green” more and more cars, trucks and buses in Colombia run on natural gas. Without adequate supplies, natural gas will become scarce, prices will skyrocket, and vehicle operators will flee back to diesel and gasoline.

According to the Mnuchin Letter, this is how funds are laundered from foreign governments through intermediaries to unwitting activist groups in foreign countries.

Colombian anti-fracking activists have already mobilized, and as in Bulgaria, appear to be well organized and well-funded. In a politically divided country, it isn’t difficult to gain traction. Former revolutionary militant, mayor of Bogotá, and current senator Gustavo Petro ran unsuccessfully for president of Colombia on an anti-fracking platform.

It can be particularly easy for state actors to encourage and support well-meaning local anti-fracking activists in Colombia because of the country’s historic political polarization. In 2016 The FARC, one group of communist rebels finally agreed to lay down arms after 50 years of armed insurgency. Two separate Marxist groups, the ELN and EPL remain active, and neighboring antagonist Venezuela has also provided material support to Colombian guerillas. It isn’t hard to find someone willing to scream “Imperialismo” at any significant industrial initiative—especially if it involves international companies.

Foreign actors are already jumping in the game. One London based activist group already cries in a 2017 article “A multinational fracking boom has begun in Colombia. New concessions threaten the water supply to the capital city of Bogota.“ though there has been zero hydraulic fracturing to date in Colombia as of 2019, two years after the article was published, and no petroleum company holds any contract to explore for oil in the Páramos, or wetlands near Bogotá. According to Luis Miguel Morelli of Colombia’s National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH), the government agency is only now in 2019 working with Colombia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) to  write technical and environmental rules for experimental hydraulic fracturing pilots that they expect to take place late in 2020.

Read here: University of Arizona research says that hydraulic fracturing has less impact on groundwater than traditional oil & gas production.

Apparently the misinformation came from a press release published by “The Colombian Alliance Free From Fracking,” cited in Colombian weekly magazine La Semana. The same article admits “It is necessary to clarify that these areas are delimited unilaterally by the government, that soon would offer them to enterprises interested in developing this activity. Still, up to the moment, no contracts have been signed for exploration or for extraction from the mentioned blocks. Even still, various environmental organizations attached to the Colombian Alliance Free of Fracking have sounded the alarms before what they consider to be a menace for environmental sustainability of the country.”

Download by clicking here the entire 6 page letter from the US Congress exposing detailed specifics on how members of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology believe the Russian government funneled millions through Klein, Ltd. A Bermuda Shell Company, through a San Francisco conduit entity, then to unwitting environmental activist groups who likely had no idea they were being made pawns of Vladimir Putin in a game of geopolitics against the free world.

Russian money has already allegedly been traced to the Sea Change Foundation based in San Francisco. According to an article in the Washington Examiner, a money trail flows from Russia through a shell company in Bermuda directly to the environmental group, where it then goes to other allied groups through grants such as the Natural Resources Defense Council. The secretive offshore entity Klein Ltd. funneled $23 million USD to the Sea Change Foundation in 2010 and 2011.

US members of the house of representatives Lamar Smith and Eddie Bernice Johnson sent a six-page letter (see graphic, right, with link to download the letter) to Secretary of The Treasury Steven Mnuchin on June 29, 2017 detailing what they call “a concerted effort by foreign entities to funnel millions of dollars through various non-profit entities to influence the U.S. Energy Market.” The letter requests “a full and complete investigation into the allegations raised…If the above allegations are true, Russian entities have funneled money through shell corporations to U.S. environmental activist organizations to influence US energy policy.”

Update: Finance Colombia has received a statement from representatives of the Sea Change Foundation (click here)

An extreme partisan environment in the US may hobble unified, aggressive action in the US to counter Russian efforts, especially less than 2 months away from a presidential election year.

But maybe not. The two major parties might just unite enough to fight back yet, with Democrats bitter about Russian tampering in the 2016 election, and Republicans friendly to US oil interests. Democrats seem to realize there is a problem. “We were even up against phony environmental groups, and I’m a big environmentalist, but these were funded by the Russians to stand against any effort, ‘Oh that pipeline, that fracking, that whatever will be a problem for you,’ and a lot of the money supporting that message was coming from Russia,” said former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in remarks to a private group, according to an article by The Washington Times.

In a speech to Deutsche Bank, Clinton said “With the new technology known as fracking, we are truly on a path — and it’s not just United States; it’s all of North America — that will be net energy exporters assuming we do it right.” Many criticized Clinton in her failed presidential campaign of saying anything to anybody in order to get elected.

95% of oil and gas wells drilled in the U.S. today are hydraulically fractured, according to the National Petroleum Council.

During a March 6, 2016 debate, Clinton tried to perch upon both sides of the fence, when she said she supports hydraulic fracturing but then she doesn’t “when any state or locality is against it. “So by the time we get through all of my conditions, I do not think there will be many places in America where fracking will continue to take place…And I think that’s the best approach, because right now there are places where fracking is going on that are not sufficiently regulated.”

The Industry Response

The free-world petroleum industry, made up not just of the giant petroleum companies, but thousands of small local service companies and mineral rights holders, and hundreds of thousands of downstream businesses such as gas stations and oil-change shops, has presented no coordinated consistent response so far; not surprising because it is made up of countless different businesses, often with divergent interests. Individual company responses haven’t been much better. No company appears to be taking an aggressive stance to make its case, probably afraid to become a target of the bile and ire of rowdy, sometimes violent protesters.

In Colombia specifically, things are even worse. A coalition of local petroleum industry groups published a series of animated cartoons and infographics on YouTube, apparently directed towards children for their Saturday morning styling, called “La Verdad del Fracking” (The Truth About Fracking). They don’t identify themselves as an organization in their YouTube channel. Every viewer comment on the channel is anti-Fracking and there is no attempt at response or engagement.

2016 Anti-Fracking carnival in San Martín, Cesar

The coalition’s website “La Verdad Del Fracking” isn’t very impressive either. With a cartoon or comic design, it focuses on the economic benefits of hydraulic fracturing to Colombia, which are real, but the site lacks a serious discussion addressing concerns and challenges made by anti-fracking activists. Better than nothing at all perhaps, but it isn’t driving the debate.

Whatever the industry is doing, it is too little, and will soon be too late if they expect to present their case. They would be wise not to make the same grave mistake global mining concern AngloGold Ashanti made when they attempted to enter Colombia and negotiate solely with Bogotá politicians and ignoring the villagers and public opinion. They literally got run out of town.

The activists “own the street” quite literally, from graffiti to protests, to social media, to grassroots one-to-one campaigning on university campuses, and street teams winning over the vast public with no opinion one way or another, one conversation at a time.

Reading the comments on “La Verdad del Fracking’s” Facebook page, it is clear they are losing badly in social media. Every comment is in ridicule of the coalition’s posts, and the page protagonist is a cartoon character. It’s just not serious.

On their coalition Twitter account, in response to this tweet comparing soccer players in Colombia and Argentina (WTF?) one responder replied: “All the ways to defend Fracking and you come out with this silliness? Not this way. Sustain yourselves with questions of Engineering.”

??tiene a Messi✅
??tiene a James✅
??tiene a Fito Paez✅
??tiene a Juanes✅
??tiene autosuficiencia energética✅
??…?❌

¡Hace 10 años?? decidió desarrollar los no convencionales con fracking, esto le permitió pasar de importar recursos a exportarlos! ¿Y ?? por qué no?? pic.twitter.com/gyj72DYRTS

— La Verdad del Fracking (@VerdadFracking) October 2, 2019

As far as the individual companies, most upstream exploration and production enterprises, including Colombia’s state-controlled Ecopetrol (NYSE: EC, BVC: ECO) are silent on their Spanish-language Colombian websites, except for ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), which provides a thoughtful argument in support of hydraulic fracturing.

Outside of industry events where executives largely “preach to their choir,” inadequate public engagement is taking place and the companies, singly or in the aggregate, do not currently own the initiative on this issue. A lot more can be done to foster an honest discussion.

Perhaps after such a dialogue, Colombians, Guyanese, Britons, Romanians, Bulgarians and others may still vote no on hydraulic fracturing, but it should be their decision, not Vladimir Putin’s.

2016 Anti-Fracking carnival in San Martín, Cesar photos credit: “Esperanza Próxima” on Flickr, kindly licensed under Creative Commons, Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Headline (front page) photo Image by Fajrul Falah from Pixabay 

In Antioquia, the power base of embattled former president and current senator Alvaro Uribe, all of the mayoral candidates that received his blessing went down to defeat except for in the Medellín suburb of Bello, a city that has suffered grave problems with both political corruption and an organized crime crisis. According to Colombia Reports, the mayor-elect of Bello and Uribe partisan is a member of the Suarez crime family and already is facing criminal charges from his time as mayor between 2008 and 2011. A judge has allegedly ordered him to wear an electronic ankle bracelet.

Above photo: Medellín’s mayor elect Daniel Quintero (left) with Antioquia’s governor elect Anibal Gaviria Correa. Gaviria was previously mayor of Medellín before outgoing mayor Federico “Fico” Gutierrez. (Photo from Twitter: @QuinteroCalle)

Political outsider Daniel Quintero resoundingly defeated the “Uribista” candidate Alfredo Ramos, son of a close Uribe ally, this despite a campaign of “dirty tricks” against Quintero, who won the mayoral race for Medellin without the support of an existing political party or incumbent backing. From humble backgrounds, Quintero ran on an anti-corruption, centrist platform. Uribe, who was former mayor of Medellín, and governor of Antioquia, the department where Medellín is located, lives on a ranch just outside of Medellín, and has traditionally counted on the region as his primary base of supporters. After serving as governor in the late 1990s, Uribe became President of Colombia in the last decade,

In Uribe’s Centro Democratico party, the figurative daggers have already come out, with many party operatives and politicians placing the blame on Colombia’s current President and Centro Democratico partisan Ivan Duque. This, even though Uribe is currently facing charges before the country’s supreme court of witness tampering that may land the former president in prison.

Colombia’s Atlantic coast industrial powerhouse of Barranquilla saw Jaime Pumarejo elected as mayor, supported by immensely popular outgoing mayor Alejandro Char, and backed by a broad coalition of parties including Cambio Radical, Conservative, Liberal, The U, and Centro Democratico.

Bogotá, Colombia’s capital and largest city, saw center left senator Claudia Lopez win the mayors position running on an anti-corruption platform. Bogotá has generally suffered contentious politics in the mayor’s office. The outgoing mayor Enrique Peñalosa squabbled constantly with former M-19 militant revolutionary, senator and former mayor Gustavo Petro, who supported candidate Holman Morris in this election. Morris is embroiled in a nasty battle with his estranged wife, who alleges domestic violence during the campaign. Lopez is the first openly lesbian politician to hold major office in Colombia, a country that remains very socially conservative and religiously influenced. Lopez had support of left wing parties the Alianza Verde (Green Party) and the Polo Democratico.

Corruption plagued coastal city Cartagena saw another shocking upset by almost unknown political reformer William Dau and his fledgling political movement named “Let’s Save Cartagena.” Dau is new to political office but is well established in the corporate world. Dau has worked as a lawyer and internal auditor for Exxon Mobil, planner for Occidental Petroleum, and has ties to investment giant The Blackstone Group. Spending less than $17,000 USD on his campaign, Dau leveraged a non-traditional social-media focused campaign to beat the traditional political machines on the Atlantic coast, often embroiled in vote buying and election rigging scandals.

Former FARC militant and musician Guillermo Torres became the first former insurgent to win a mayoral election after the peace process was signed, though he did so not as a member of the new FARC political party, but with the support of the far-left Union Patriotica and Gustavo Petro’s Colombia Humana. Torres will take office as the mayor of Turbaco, a town near Cartagena. The town gained mild fame for gifting a donkey to former US President Obama when he visited Colombia in 2012. Obama thanked the town but did not accept the donkey. Torres won the election with over 50% of the vote and ran on a platform of environmental justice.

The wells are held jointly with U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum Corp. (Oxy) and have reached a combined 2,800 barrels of oil per day in initial testing.

Two wells, REX NE-01ST2 and Cosecha V-01, are located in the Arauca municipality of Arauquita with the REX discovery yielding the bulk of production at around 2,000 barrels of oil per day. Cosecha has recorded an output of 600 barrels per day, said Ecopetrol in a statement.

The third well, Infantas Oriente-1 in Santander, has only produced 200 barrels per day. But its commercial value remains viable nevertheless, according to Ecopetrol, given its location just 25 kilometers from the company’s refinery in Barrancabermeja and the presence of lighter crude.

Felipe Bayón Pardo, president of Ecopetrol, highlighted the new production as another positive development in the close relationship between the Colombian company and Oxy, which dates back to the early 1980s with the discovery of the Caño Limón oilfield.

“These three finds show that oil activity is being revitalized in two of the most traditional departments for this industry in Colombia, while confirming the benefits of the alliance between Ecopetrol and Oxy,” said Bayón.

The attack, which Ecopetrol says was carried out by “groups outside of the law” at 1:30 am in the Guamalito district of El Carmen, has caused oil to spill into the surrounding area and threaten the nearby Cimitarra stream. According to the state-controlled oil company, this waterway feeds into an aqueduct that some 3,500 locals in Guamalito rely on.

The company said the process has begun to both suspend pumping oil through the 485-mile pipeline and shut off the opening of the aqueduct. Along with mobilizing specialized personnel to clean up the oil spill, local disaster risk management personnel and other authorities have also been notified of the emergency. Ecopetrol has asked those from the community to steer clear of the area to so that they are not affected by the inhalation of gases.

According to Reuters, the attack did not initially affect production at the pipeline’s main feeder site, the Caño Limón field, or oil exports. The Caño Limón oil field is operated by Occidental Petroleum Corp., a U.S. exploration and production company based in Houston.

“This is a desperate waste of resources at a time when the country needs every dollar of oil revenue possible,” said Bancolombia in a note to investors.

Though Ecopetrol did not identify the perpetrators of the attack, former presidential cabinet member and current peace negotiator Juan Camilo Restrepo said on Twitter that the attack a “senseless action of the ELN against the aqueduct of Norte de Santander.” He added that, “with terrorist attacks like this that affect non-combatant civilian populations, the ELN makes the Quito negotiations difficult.”

The ELN, or National Liberation Army, became Colombia’s largest guerrilla group after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) demobilized and handed over its weapons to the United Nations earlier this year. The ELN has been negotiating its own peace deal with the government and Restrepo in Quito, but its members have continued to conduct acts of violence and belligerence in the ensuing months, causing some in the nation to wonder if the talks can succeed.

Ecopetrol says that this was the 31st attack already this year on Caño Limón-Coveñas, one of two primary pipelines transporting oil in Colombia. “Ecopetrol repudiates these actions that endanger people’s lives, violate international humanitarian law, and seriously affect the environment and the well-being of communities as well as the development of oil activities,” said the company in a statement.

Photo credit: Ecopetrol

Photo: Ecopetrol released an image of the area, highlighting where the seven reported attacks took place. (Credit: Ecopetrol)

Ecopetrol did not identify who committed to the attacks, but military sources, according to Reuters, believe that guerrillas from the National Liberation Army (ELN) were responsible. The rebel group, which is expected to begin formal peace talks with the government on February 7, has attacked pipelines throughout the country in recent years.

The company says that it also found several valves that had been installed illicitly to siphon off oil. This method of stealing petroleum is a regular practice used by various criminal organizations. Ecopetrol noted in a statement that the valves often cause “great environmental damage by contaminating rivers and lands.”

With military assistance, technicians from the company are working to inspect and repair the pipeline. “Ecopetrol emphatically rejects these actions that endanger the lives of people, seriously affect the environment, and impede the well-being and development of communities,” said Ecopetrol in a statement.

Occidental Petroleum, a Houston-based energy company, transports oil through the pipeline from the Caño Limón field to the port of Covenas on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. The firm says it has extracted some 1.3 billion barrels of oil from the field, the nation’s second largest, since its discovery in 1983.

Ecopetrol said that the Caño Limón-Coveñas pipeline suffered 43 attacks during 2016 in the departments of Norte de Santander, Arauca, Boyacá, and Cesar. It also identified and removed 33 illicit valves last year.