Alberto Consuegra Granger will have an interim management in which he will have to deal with the highest profits in Ecopetrol’s history, but at the same time with a debt of approximately $23,936 million, a figure that triples the profits that the company obtained at the end of 2022
The Colombian oil company Ecopetrol —in which Gustavo Petro’s administration has an 88.45% shareholding— has appointed a new president in charge who will take over the reins of the company from April 1.
The name chosen by the company’s board of directors is Alberto Consuegra Granger, a civil engineer with 30 years of experience in the sector who joined the company since 2016 and currently serves as operating executive and alternate legal representative.
Consuegra Granger will temporarily replace Felipe Bayón Pardo, who served as president of the company since 2017, while Iván Duque was the president of Colombia.
The departure of Bayón Pardo was foreseeable given the change of government, however, Colombian media such as Briefcase They report that the modification was contained to safeguard the stability of the peso, which in recent months has slightly recovered its value against the dollar.
This change was not exempt from controversy, because following an interview by Bayón with Financial Timesa statement by the outgoing president on the “politicization” of the company was reported in the media, a statement that was rejected by the Minister of Finance, José Antonio Ocampo.
However, Ecopetrol clarified that the appointment was misinterpreted and that Bayón’s message was to ensure that the company did not become politicized in the future.
“The quote attributed to the president, Felipe Bayón, by a media outlet that the company is being ‘politicized’ is imprecise. The message that the president of the company emphasized during the interview with the media was that Ecopetrol should be managed with eminently technical criteria so that hopefully it does not become politicized,” the firm said.
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After announcing the appointment of Consuegra Granger, the company recalled that the Board of Directors, with the support of the Compensation, Nomination and Culture Committee, and the advice of a headhunting firm, continues with the selection process for a new president.
Now Consuegra Granger will have an interim management in which she will have to deal with the highest profits in the history of the oil company, but at the same time with a debt of approximately $23,936 million, a figure that triples the profits that the company obtained at the end of 2022. .
The appointment was also announced in a context of rumors surrounding the possible purchase of Monómeros, a Venezuelan subsidiary of Pequiven in Colombia, for some $300 million, according to statements by the Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, Armando Benedetti. However, Ecopetrol itself rejected the acquisition.
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