After crisis, Colombia's Ecopetrol spends big to boost output, reserves - Reuters

Splattered with mud, a dozen workers wrestled a drill bit into position on a rain-soaked oil rig platform in central Colombia, readying it for work once the storm passed.

The rig, at the Castilla oil field in the wide central plains of Meta province, is one of a fleet deployed by Colombian state-run oil company Ecopetrol under a $3.5-$4 billion investment plan this year to boost production and explore for more oil to replenish dwindling reserves.

The company has boosted its investment by more than $1 billion, from $2.2 billion a year earlier, to finance drilling 620 wells in 2018. Ecopetrol is targeting output of 725,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude and gas equivalent by the end of the year, up from about 700,000 now, and the has set a more aggressive target of 870,000 bpd by 2020.

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Peace, economy pose challenges for Colombia's new president - Reuters

Colombian President-elect Ivan Duque has promised to unite a divided country behind his plans to toughen a peace accord with Marxist rebels and rekindle economic growth, but he will face major challenges when he takes office in August.

The right-wing former senator comfortably won Sunday’s election with 54 percent of votes against leftist rival Gustavo Petro, who garnered 42 percent with his pledge to shake up Colombia’s economic model and tackle inequality.

Reuters

It was the first presidential election since a 2016 peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which ended its part in a five-decade conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions.

Duque, 41, pledged in his victory speech to unite the polarized Andean country and tackle corruption, improve security and increase educational opportunities.

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Colombia's Sunday vote will determine future of peace deal, economy - Reuters

Colombians will choose either a business-friendly protégé of a powerful ex-president or a leftist former guerrilla as their new head of state on Sunday, with the future of a historic peace accord and the nation's economic model hanging in the balance.

Ivan Duque, hand-picked by former hardline president Alvaro Uribe, is predicted to win Sunday's runoff as he is polling about 20 points ahead of Gustavo Petro, a former mayor of Bogota and one-time member of the now-defunct M19 rebel group.

At stake is the implementation of a 2016 peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which brought an end to five decades of conflict with the Marxist rebel group, and whether Latin America's fourth-largest economy will abandon its traditionally market-friendly posture.

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Colombia vote worries oil, mining investors - Reuters

Investors in Colombia’s oil and mining sectors have much at stake in Sunday’s presidential race with the frontrunner pledging business-friendly measures to revive production while his leftist rival wants to end reliance on petroleum and coal, the country’s top exports. Leftist candidate Gustavo Petro, a former member of the M-19 guerilla group, has promised to overhaul state-run oil firm Ecopetrol SA, the South American nation’s biggest company, to refocus it on renewable energy.

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Colombia's election could mark the start of a resurgent left - Reuters

Left-wing presidential candidate Gustavo Petro had a simple but radical proposal for his audience in the small industrial town of Yumbo in western Colombia.

Reuters

What if his government bought a huge stretch of land owned by billionaire sugar baron Carlos Ardila Lulle close to the nearby city of Cali?

“It would be nice if he decided, once we are in power, to sell his Incauca farm to the government so we can give it to peasant farmers,” said Petro, a former rebel with the M19 urban guerrilla group, speaking during a rally on April 26.

The crowd roared approval for an idea that would not have sounded out of place in the platform of several leftist Latin American leaders in recent years but that seemed shocking from a mainstream candidate in Colombia.

For decades, the fractured left has failed to come close to winning Colombia’s presidency or exercising control in Congress, overshadowed by right-wing contenders who have promised strong security policies.

Yet a 2016 truce with the FARC Marxist rebels that ended five decades of conflict shifted priorities for many voters in the Andean country of nearly 50 million people. Inequality and corruption replaced security as the top issues for many, creating opportunities for the left.

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