Today’s runoff election in Colombia is decided as Rodolfo Hernandez has conceded to Gustavo Petro.
The polls were even but Petro’s win is a rejection of two decades of the political establishment in Colombia. He was previously the mayor of Colombia and is expected to emphasize social policies.
Petro had received 40% of the vote in the first round compared to 24% for Hernandez but most of the trailing parties supported Hernandez so it was set to be a close vote.
Despite his name, Petro is the anti-oil candidate the election.
From Scotia:
“Petro intends to reduce Colombia’s dependence on the oil industry by preventing oil exploration. If elected president, Mr. Petro could do this by blocking future exploration bid rounds through his control of the ANH. Mr. Petro would also be able to slow down the permitting of new wells.”
South American leftists have a long history of this kind of rhetoric so we’ll be watching closely to see what happens.Colombia producers about 750k bpd but has significant reserves and exploration potential. Oil and gas represents 40% of Colombia’s exports and 10-20% of the government’s revenue.
WTI crude oil is trading up $1.27 to $110.83 in the early going. I doubt this election has anything to do with that but USD/COP will be an interesting trade today.