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Ecopetrol is Colombia's state-controlled oil and gas company, pumping crude, refining fuel, and selling energy at home and abroad.
Ecopetrol is Colombia's national oil champion. It pulls crude oil and natural gas out of the ground, turns some of that crude into gasoline, diesel, and petrochemicals at its refineries, and sells fuel through service stations across Colombia. It also moves oil and fuel through pipelines and ships crude to buyers abroad. The Colombian government owns the biggest slice of the company, though its shares also trade in New York and Bogotá, which makes it a strange hybrid: a public company with a politician-sized shareholder.
The money mostly comes from selling oil. Ecopetrol produces hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil equivalent a day, and a large share of that crude gets exported, with the United States and Asia among the big buyers. Its refineries, including the large one at Barrancabermeja, supply much of Colombia's own fuel. So the company sits on both sides of the seesaw: when global oil prices rise, its barrels become more valuable, and when prices fall, the whole business feels it. That leaves Ecopetrol exposed to things it cannot control. Oil prices swing on wars, OPEC decisions, and global demand. Colombia's own politics matter too: the government has talked about shifting away from fossil fuels, and rules around fracking and new exploration have been debated, which affects how much the company can grow. It faces competition from private oil majors and from cheaper imported fuel, and it carries the extra weight of being a cash cow for the state, since its dividends help fund public spending.
After years of watching foreign companies pump its oil, Colombia decided to run the show itself. In 1951 the government formed Ecopetrol to operate the country's crude oil fields, and from day one the state held the majority. That single fact — the nation as the controlling owner — would shape every twist in the company's history.
For decades Ecopetrol acted more like a government department than a business. That changed in 2003, when it was transformed into a state-owned corporation with shares tied to the Nation. It was a quiet but crucial step: the company was being groomed for private investors and public markets.
The grooming paid off in 2007 with Colombia's largest-ever initial public offering, priced at 1,400 pesos a share and listed in Bogotá and New York. The listing came with stricter corporate governance, and it opened the door to something dramatic. Over the next six years the company doubled production, drilling in areas that Marxist guerrillas had once controlled. For a moment, it looked unstoppable.
The company also began reaching beyond oil and gas. In 2008 it bought Propilco, the leading polypropylene supplier in Colombia and the first resins producer in the Andean region, Central America and the Caribbean. It was a new kind of business for Ecopetrol — petrochemicals.
A year later came a burst of deals: stakes in Hocol Petroleum and Savia Perú's parent, plus a majority of Reficar that made Ecopetrol the sole owner of the Cartagena refinery. Exploration, refining and transportation were being pulled under one roof.
In 2011 Ecopetrol bought 51% of Equión Energía, which raised its ownership in several pipelines, including Ocensa. Oil is only worth what you can move, and this gave the company a firmer grip on the arteries that carry Colombia's crude.
In 2012 the market valued Ecopetrol at $136.7 billion, making it the world's fifth most valuable oil company — briefly worth more than BP. Investors were betting that pushing guerrillas back would open land full of new oil. The finds never came, and the valuation would later collapse by more than 90%. The peak was really a cliff edge in disguise.
The comeuppance came fast. In 2014, more rebel attacks and community protests helped drive Ecopetrol's first annual production decline, and the company posted its first quarterly loss since going public. Worse, it lost more output per share that year than any other oil company in the Americas.
The government then began treating the company as a political tool. In 2022 it appointed the manager of the presidential campaign as Ecopetrol's president, and adopted a policy of not exploring or exploiting oil and gas in new contracts. The government also intervened in a Board decision, and the share price slid as governance worries piled up.
Something had to give. In 2023 Felipe Bayón Pardo stepped down as CEO, with Alberto Consuegra Granger taking over on an interim basis. The Board kept searching for a permanent leader, hiring an international headhunter to do it.
That search ended in 2026, when Joaquín Gutiérrez Caballero was unanimously appointed CEO, effective September 28. His job: renew the company, create value again, and rebuild ties with the Colombian State and other stakeholders. After a rough stretch, the Board picked a leader chosen for exactly that kind of bridge-building.
The company also looked abroad for growth. In 2026 it paid about $1.2 billion for a controlling 51% stake in Brazil's Brava Energia. It was a big international step that significantly expanded Ecopetrol's presence in Brazil's energy market.
Then the political winds changed again. Colombia's new president, Abelardo de la Espriella, reversed the anti-fossil fuel policies and promised to revive exploration and authorize fracking pilots. Ecopetrol seated nine new directors, and its shares jumped roughly 65% for the year. The focus is now oil production over energy transition, though real risks remain — including falling natural gas reserves.
Recent years have been a story of big ambitions and messy reality. Ecopetrol bought a controlling stake in Interconexión Eléctrica, a large power transmission company, betting that electricity and renewable energy would matter more over time. It also pushed into the Permian Basin in Texas through a partnership to boost oil output. Permitting delays and security problems in some Colombian regions have held back production, and the company has been working to keep its reserves and cash flow steady while balancing the government's need for money against its own need to invest.
Saved answer · last researched 19 Oct 2026