Colombia’s state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol SA will invest more than the $6.22 billion originally planned for 2009,
the company’s top official said Saturday.
Ecopetrol will raise the amount to be invested in acquisitions, Javier
Gutierrez, the company’s Chief Executive told Dow Jones in an interview
in Medellin.
Ecopetrol had set apart $870 million for acquisitions this year, but the company has already spent more.
So far this year, Ecopetrol has acquired 50% of Peru’s Petrotech
Peruana SA for $450 million, a 51% stake in a Cartagena refinery from
Swiss commodity company Glencore International AG for $549 million and
the Colombian unit of France’s Etablissements Maurel et Prom (5107.FR)
for $748 million. The company bought a stake in an oil pipeline from
Enbridge Inc. (ENB) for $418 million.
Ecopetrol plans to invest $60 billion between 2008 and 2015.
The company expects to boost its production to 1 million barrels of oil
equivalent a year, up from 447,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in
2008. The company plans to raise production gradually to end the year
at 531,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.
Ecopetrol plans to sell $4 billion in bonds on the domestic and
international markets to finance the investment plans. The company also
plans to use part of its own cash.
The Colombian government owns 89.9% of Ecopetrol.
