Colombia's Ecopetrol Sees Drop in Second-Quarter Profits

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Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Ecopetrol (NYSE:EC) (Bogota, Colombia) has reported net income of 3.4 trillion Colombian pesos (about US$848 million) in the second quarter, about 16.6% less than during the same period last year. Throughout the quarter, the state-owned oil and gas company maintained a solid operational performance, but its finances were impacted by external factors in market variables, such as exchange rates.

On the upstream front, the company produced 758,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d) during the just-ended quarter, about 4.1% more than during the same period last year. Oil represented about 76% of those volumes, while the remaining amount was natural gas.

Most of the boost in volumes came from the Ecopetrol Permian division, which saw its year-over-year output increase by 67.3% to 98,200 BOE/d. In addition, the Caño Sur, CPO09, and Florena oil fields in Colombia increased output by 12,100 BOE/d.

Throughout the quarter, the company drilled and completed 124 wells, 11% more than during the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the company's refineries maintained a steady output in the second quarter, processing 424,400 barrels of oil per day (BBL/d), which was on par with the second quarter of 2023.

The 210,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Cartagena refinery was operating at 88.6% of its capacity, about 7.6% lower year over year, due to a technical shutdown of the U-001 crude unit in April. The 225,000-BBL/d Barrancabermeja refinery maintained its throughput level at 79%.

Finally, in the electricity sector, an industry that Ecopetrol has expanded to, the company was awarded expansion, connections and reinforcement grid projects in Colombia, Chile, Brazil and Peru during the second quarter.

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