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Colombia higher court rules fracking pilot projects can go ahead -Breaking

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© Reuters. A person rides a canoe on the Magdalena River in Puerto Wilches, Colombia March 8, 2022. Image taken March 8, 2022. REUTERS/Oliver Griffin

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Investigative fracking operations in Colombia can go forward after a court docket within the Andean nation’s Santander (BME:) province on Thursday reversed a decrease court docket’s resolution to dam two pilot tasks.

Business improvement of non-conventional power deposits – equivalent to by hydraulic fracturing, or fracking for hydrocarbons – just isn’t presently permitted in Colombia, however the nation’s highest administrative court docket has allowed pilot tasks to go forward whereas it considers the difficulty.

Majority state-owned Colombian oil firm Ecopetrol and U.S. associate Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:) are endeavor each pilot tasks, with Ecopetrol serving as operator.

In late April, a decide within the metropolis of Barrancabermeja suspended an environmental license for the Kale pilot venture, ruling {that a} native Afro-Colombian group, the Afrowilches, had not been correctly consulted.

That ruling ordered {that a} prior session for Afrowilches for each the Kale and Platero venture areas be carried out. Colombia’s Nationwide Environmental Licensing Authority (ANLA) has licensed the Kale venture however not but the Platero venture.

“The ruling dated April 21, 2022 by the First Administrative Courtroom of Barrancabermeja is hereby revoked and the request for authorized safety is dominated inadmissible,” the upper Administrative Courtroom of Santander stated in an announcement.

The tasks are situated within the municipality of Puerto Wilches.

Ecopetrol was not instantly accessible to touch upon the ruling.

The Colombia Free from Fracking Alliance stated it regretted the newest resolution and would enchantment to a better court docket.

“We’ll request a overview of the court docket’s resolution by the Constitutional Courtroom, contemplating that (the choice) disregards the precedent of prior session and violates the rights of the Afro-Colombian communities of Puerto Wilches,” the group stated.

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