The different units of Colombia’s state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol SA will borrow as much as $2.3 billion in 2010 to finance capital expenditures, the company’s Chief Executive Javier Gutierrez said Wednesday in a conference call.
The units will each raise the amount they will require, Gutierrez said. Ecopetrol’s units are Colombian oil-producing company Hocol SA, refinery Refineria de Cartagena SA, or Reficar, petrochemical unit Propilco, pipeline operators Ocensa and ODL and Peruvian oil-producing operation Savia, which is 50% owned by South Korea’s KNOC.
Ecopetrol itself plans to borrow as much as $3.5 billion in 2010 to partly finance its $6.93 billion investment programs. The company plans to sell bonds, contract credits with banks and with export-import agencies.
The borrowing from the units will be in addition to the $3.5 billion.
Including the subsidiaries, Ecopetrol plans to invest $8.48 billion in 2010.
Ecopetrol used to be fully owned by the government, which floated a 10.1% stake on the local stock market and made the company more independent from government meddling to allow it to boost investment and grow.
Ecopetrol said it plans to invest $60 billion over the period 2008-2015.
Shares of Ecopetrol rose 0.6% to COP2,485, while the IGBC gained 0.1%.
(Inti Landauro, Dow Jones)