Spanish:
 
|
US trade agency, Colombia sign agreements for oil sector work
By Mark Duffy
PLATTS
BOGOTA
Petroleumworld.com 04 12 06
Colombia's energy ministry Monday signed three agreements with the US
Trade and Development Agency to help promote activities in the country's
hydrocarbon sector.A total of $1.35 million will be divided between state oil company
Ecopetrol ($1.1 million) and the National Hydrocarbons Agency ($250,000).
In the case of Ecopetrol, $600,000 will be used to help modernize the
Barrancabermeja refinery, and $500,000 will go towards a study on examining
how to improve petroleum industry security, particularly in the case of
pipeline protection.Much of the remaining $250,000 is to be used by the National Hydrocarbon
Agency (ANH) to harmonize the current contracting procedures and bring them
into line with international standards. Part of this amount will also go
towards the ANH's strategy to attract more foreign investment in Colombia's
oil sector."I hope that this will be the seen as the first steps in the Free Trade
Agreement signed recently with the US," said Colombian Mining Minister
Luis Ernesto Mejia at a news conference after signing the agreements. Thelma
Askey, Director of USTDA, said, "These agreements show the value the US places
on Colombia and the hydrocarbon sector."Last year, Colombia received $1.75 million in aid from the USTDA. The
funding was used principally in the petroleum, transport and communications
sectors.--Mark Duffy, newsdesk@platts.com
For more information, take a trial to Platts Oilgram News at
http://oilgramnews.platts.com.
Platts 04 10 2006Copyright © 2006 Platts. All Rights Reserved.
Your
feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.
Write to editor@petroleumworld.com
Any
question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com
Best
Viewed with IE
5.01+
Windows
NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels