Colombia's oil production is gushing

[naaman fletcher]

Brazil and its huge offshore oil finds may be getting much of the oil world's attention these days, but Latin America's energy scene has another rising star: Colombia.

In the latest upward revision of the nation's production targets, a top official of state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol said Monday that Colombia's crude oil output should reach at least 1.2 million barrels a day by the end of 2012, nearly double the average daily production reached last year.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-colombia-oil-20100512,0,231012.story

[protocol rv]

1. Ecopetrol is growing a lot of muscles

They are being able to go into the areas formally controlled by the FARC, and are finding a lot of oil. They also benefit because there's an exodus of workers and industry from Western Venezuela into Colombia. Lots of trucks loaded with construction equipment are crossing the border, to avoid being stolen (ahem, nationalized) by the chavistas, and workers are fleeing as well, seeking a better future outside of the forthcoming communist nightmare.