The considerable optimism surrounding oil at the end of 2019, when Brent was trading at $68 a barrel has turned sour. The demand shock triggered by the coronavirus and subsequent Saudi-Russian price war, which threatened to substantially expand global supply, caused oil prices to crash. The International Brent price plummeted to levels not seen for over two decades. The latest rally, which has seen Brent rise to just over $40 per barrel, has provided little relief for Colombian oil producers. That price is below the breakeven price for many Colombian drillers, impacting their profitability and forcing them to curb spending. This has instigated considerable fallout for Colombia’s oil industry and ultimately the economy. The Latin American nation, the region’s fourth-largest oil producer, bet its economic future on oil with growing investment and production seeing petroleum provide a fifth of fiscal revenues before the 2014 oil price collapse. The latest […]