Colombia's Ecopetrol Names New CEO, Echeverry Resigns
Colombian state-run oil company Ecopetrol said its current vice-president, Felipe Bayon, will take over as chief executive, replacing Juan Carlos Echeverry. Echeverry, who has headed the company since March 2015, through difficult times caused by the global fall in crude prices, has resigned for family reasons, Ecopetrol said in a statement to the Andean country's financial regulator. Bayon, an engineer who spent 20 years working at BP PLC, will take over from Sept. 15, the company said. He has been a vice president at Ecopetrol since February 2016. Echeverry told Reuters in an interview last
Colombia's Largest Oil Union to Vote on Possible Strike
Members of Colombia's largest oil workers union will vote on whether to strike in protest of privatizations at state-run oil company Ecopetrol, the union's president said on Tuesday. Most of the 21,000 members of the Workers Union for the Petroleum Industry (USO) work at Ecopetrol, which has sold several major non-oil related assets in an effort to refocus its operations after the slump in crude prices. Ecopetrol's net profit tumbled nearly 48 percent in the second quarter, the company said last month, because of a fall in sales and output. Privatizations, the sale of
Oil Sector is Colombia's Biggest Economic Concern
. Economic analysts have voiced caution over Colombia's heavy dependence on oil exports, which account for about 40 percent of export revenue. Current output also makes it a struggle for the country to raise its own oil reserves beyond a fairly tight seven years. Shares in state-owned oil producer Ecopetrol, which produces about two thirds of the country's crude, have fallen about 12 percent over the past year. The next largest producer is Canada's Pacific Rubiales. President Juan Manuel Santos, who was re-elected on Sunday, recognized during his campaign the need to streamline the government's
Colombia's Ecopetrol Q1 Profit Slips 3.6%
Colombia's state-owned oil company Ecopetrol said on Wednesday consolidated net profit fell 3.6 percent in the first quarter from the same period a year earlier to 3.29 trillion pesos ($1.7 billion). ($1 = 1934.0800 Colombian pesos) (Reporting by Peter Murphy; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
