June 1, 2016
“Today’s visit was very productive. We were informed about the Caporo South project, and they presented the benefits that this project is going to bring to our municipality, such as the hiring of skilled and unskilled labor. But the most important thing is that they’re committed to carrying out environmental compensation,”said Zunilda Tolosa, mayor of the municipality of Chiriguaná.
Thanks to the efforts of thousands of workers, Drummond Ltd. has positioned itself as one of the large coal producers and exporters worldwide. In 2004, the company initiated the hydrocarbon exploration in Colombia with the aim of extracting methane gas associated with coal in the development area called Caporo South in harmony with its environmental and social setting.
In order to strengthen its ties with the communities in the areas of influence of its projects, on May 17 Drummond Ltd.’s Hydrocarbons and Mineral Exploration Division (HMED) held a meeting to present the Caporo South Development Area project and held a joint visit to the areas of the Caporo 21 and Caporo 1 wells, accompanied by officials from the municipal government of Chiriguaná, led by Mayor Zunilda Toloza, who was accompanied by the cabinet secretaries, municipal council members and Luzoan Caro Padilla, the municipal ombdusman.
The presidents of the community action boards, community representatives and community leaders were present, as well as owners of farms in the area.
At the socialization meeting, the technical aspects and scope of the coal bed methane project were presented by staff from Drummond Ltd.’s HMED. The presentation was led by Alfonso Rubiano, Planning and Development Manager, who was accompanied by Mónica Escandón, director of HSE and Communities and other team members. Likewise, a visit was made to the Caporo 21 well, which is currently undergoing production tests, and the Caporo 1 well, which has been dismantled and is in the phase of restoration.
“During the visit we have been able to identify the various production sites for gasification in the contract, which are some extremely simple processes. The project’s expectations are great for the municipality of Chiriguaná in the Caporo South project, where 95% of the production is in Chiriguaná’s territory,”said Iván Antonio Cadena Rivera, council member and president of Asojunta of the municipality of Chiriguaná.
Likewise, on May 18 a socialization meeting was held with officials of the municipal government of La Jagua de Ibirico, represented by the cabinet secretaries, municipal council members and Elizabeth Mahecha, municipal ombudsman. The owners of farms located in the area of influence of the project were also present.
During the presentation and the field visit, the gas production process, well drilling, stimulation and testing techniques, and also the construction and assembly of the surface installations were presented in detail to the communities. Likewise, the environmental commitment of the company that guarantees reforestation of the affected areas, and the environmental measures in general that are taken to mitigate the impact of our projects, were explained.
“The most important aspect of this project is that they have some very wide-ranging environmental compensation management measures, in which we were able to observe that the procedures are being carried out with the standardized protocol that has been completely defined by the company,”added council member Cadena.
Following this, informational session were carried out in which the concerns of the participants regarding the exploration of nonconventional deposits were explored and resolved. The community leaders and property owners observed the activities and processes that the division currently carries out in the exploration of this type of deposit.
“We think that the process Drummond and the Hydrocarbons area are carrying out is good because this is the way the community gets to know first hand how the projects are carried out, and that way we understand negative or positive impacts caused by this kind of project, not just on paper, since we are seeing this in real life,”said Maria Ester Meneses, legal representative of the council of Afro-Colombian communities, “El viejo Celeste”, of the vereda of Los Cerrajones.
Through the socialization of the projects to be undertaken with the communities the company seeks to reaffirm once again its corporate social responsibility, and its commitment to the communities in the area of influence and to the region’s development.
