BOGOTA, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Ecuador’s state-run oil company
Petroamazonas expects crude output to increase 4 percent in 2013
to an average of 325,000 barrels per day (bpd), its General
Manager Oswaldo Madrid told Reuters on Wednesday.

Petroamazonas is Ecuador’s largest oil company and its
output accounts for about 60 percent of the crude produced in
the OPEC-member country.

BOGOTA, Jan 22 (Reuters) – Colombian President Juan Manuel
Santos said on Tuesday that the government, which is represented
by the finance minister on the central bank’s seven-member
board, will ask the monetary authority to lower the benchmark
interest rate next week.

Colombian policymakers have cut the overnight lending rate
at the last two meetings to combat a slowdown in the economy due
to weaker overseas sales and manufacturing, and experts widely
expect another slash at the bank’s Jan. 28 meeting.

BOGOTA, Jan 10 (Reuters) – Colombia’s government on Thursday
extended a contract to the metallurgical coal operations of
Brazil’s Votorantim local unit for two decades and raised
royalties.

Colombia authorized Minas PazdelRio S.A, a local unit of
Brazil’s Votorantim, to continue mining metallurgical coal until
2039 from a previous date of 2019, and increased the royalties
the company would pay, the National Mining Agency said.

BOGOTA, Dec 21 (Reuters) – A dispute between Colombia’s top
coal railway, Fenoco, and a regional environmental authority
over nighttime noise will likely be resolved in the coming days,
a government source said on Friday.

The Regional Autonomous Corporation of Cesar, which oversees
environmental issues in the northern province, has ordered
Fenoco to stop running trains near populated areas at night in
Colombia’s top coal producing region.

BOGOTA, Dec 20 (Reuters) – Colombia posted surprisingly weak
third-quarter growth on Thursday as the global slowdown bit into
expansion and boosted the likelihood policymakers would cut the
benchmark interest rate to spur the sluggish economy.

The Andean country’s gross domestic product grew just 2.1
percent in the third quarter compared with the same period in
2011 – its slowest pace since the third quarter of 2009 – and
well below analysts’ expectations.

BOGOTA, Dec 19 (Reuters) – Colombia’s top coal railway,
Fenoco, is still operating normally despite a ban on night
trains by a regional environmental authority, and the company
will meet with government officials to look for a solution,
sources said on Wednesday.

The Regional Autonomous Corporation of Cesar, which oversees
environmental issues and whose decisions are binding, ordered
Fenoco to stop transport in areas where it passed less than 100
meters from communities between the hours of 2230 and 0430 so
residents’ sleep would not be disturbed.

BOGOTA, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Colombia’s main coal railway,
Fenoco, has been told to stop running its trains at night
through populated areas in the northern Cesar province so
residents’ sleep is not disturbed, according to a regional
environmental authority.

Fenoco’s shareholders are among the biggest coal exporters
in Colombia, and the railway was hit this year by a five-week
labor strike, which shut off more than half of shipments from
the world’s No. 4 coal exporter.

BOGOTA, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Colombia will seek to diversify
about $1 billion of annual overseas investments as near-zero
yields for government paper in developed markets have cut
returns on its sovereign fund, Finance Minister Mauricio
Cardenas said on Wednesday.

Global economic troubles have forced central banks in
Europe, the United States and other regions to keep interest
rates at historical lows to try to boost sluggish growth,
meaning that developed countries may have zero or
negative-yielding bonds.

HAVANA/BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s Marxist rebels called a two-month unilateral ceasefire on Monday, the first truce in more than a decade, as delicate peace talks began in Cuba to try to end a half century of war.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos’ government reiterated, however, that there would be no halt to military operations until a final peace deal is signed with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC.

HAVANA/BOGOTA (Reuters) – Colombia’s Marxist rebels called a two-month unilateral ceasefire on Monday, the first truce in more than a decade, as delicate peace talks began in Cuba to try and end a half century of war.

President Juan Manuel Santos’ government has so far rejected any stoppage of military operations until a final peace deal is signed with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and even vowed to step up the offensive.