Ecopetrol’s profits fell 28.3% in the third quarter of the year to $3.6 billion (802 million dollars), the state company reported in the presentation of its financial and operational results. This represented that the state company earned $1.4 billion less than in the same period last year, when it reached $5 billion (1,114 million dollars).
When analyzing the results over nine months, the state energy company reported profits of $11 billion, which was also a setback of 25.6% from $14.8 billion in the same period in the third quarter of 2023.
Ebitda for the third quarter of 2024 reached $13.9 billion, a drop of 12.9% annually. This contraction also occurred in the nine-month measurement where it fell 12.8% to $42.2 billion.
Ricardo Roa, president of Ecopetrol, assured that oil production reached 752,000 barrels per day in the third quarter, which represented the highest production in the last nine years.
“If our accounting were in dollars and not in pesos, we would be recording a gross profit greater than $11.9 billion,” added the president of Ecopetrol later.
The financial and operational results for the third quarter were delivered in a context of turbulence for the state company, with a series of accusations against the president of the energy company, Ricardo Roa, for his participation in the campaign of current president Gustavo Petro; as well as other personal complaints.
Recently, the risk rating agency Fitch Ratings maintained Ecopetrol’s credit ratings, but warned about the doubts generated by certain actions in the firm’s corporate governance.
