Colombia's Ecopetrol Closes Third Quarter with High Production, Solid Refining Output

Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Colombian state energy company Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) (Bogota, Colombia) closed the third quarter with net income of 3.6 trillion Colombian pesos (about US$800 million), about 28.3% less than during the same period in 2023. The drop in net income was due to the impact of external factors, such as inflation and price changes.

The company's accumulated net income from January through September totaled 11 trillion Colombian pesos (about US$2.4 billion), which was one of the highest levels in recent times, after those registered in 2022 and 2023.

On the upstream front, Ecopetrol reported output of 754,000 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d) in the third quarter, 1.8% more than the third quarter of 2023, and 752,000 BOE/d for January through September, the highest volume in nine years.

The results were supported by higher volumes from Ecopetrol's division in the Permian Basin with output of 102,600 BOE/d in the third quarter, almost 55% more than during the same period last year. Higher production from Caño Sur, Rubiales Rex Noreste and projects associated with secondary recovery in Castilla and Chichimene helped boost output.

During the third quarter, Ecopetrol drilled 343 wells, with an average occupancy of 23 active rigs. Throughout 2024, 10 exploratory wells were drilled, worth nearly US$330 million. So far, one of the exploratory wells, Sirius-2, has been successful, while another five are under evaluation, and four have not yet yielded commercial indication results.

On the downstream front, Ecopetrol reached a processing rate of 401,000 barrels of oil per day (BBL/d) in the just-ended quarter, slightly lower than during the same period last year. From January through September, however, Ecopetrol had a throughput of 418,000 BBL/d. This was the result of better performance at the 250,000-BBL/d Barrancabermeja refinery. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Petroleum Refining Plant Database can click here for the Barrancabermeja refinery profile.

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