Colombian oil company Ecopetrol, the country’s largest company and one of the leading energy firms in Latin America, reported a sharp drop in its financial results at the end of 2025. The company posted net profits of around 9 trillion pesos (approximately US$2.6 billion), representing a 39.5% decrease compared with the previous year, when profits reached 14.9 trillion pesos (approximately US$3.98 billion).
The decline marks a significant point for the mixed-capital company — majority controlled by the Colombian state — as it places its profits at the lowest level since the 2020 pandemic, when the collapse of the global oil market severely affected the accounts of the energy sector.
Oil prices in 2025 showed a general downward trend due to a global supply surplus and moderate demand growth. The Brent crude barrel averaged between US$70 and US$76, with declines that pushed prices below US$65 in several periods.
Colombia’s Ecopetrol profits fall to lowest level since 2020 pandemic
The financial report released by Ecopetrol confirmed that the energy group’s net profit fell 39.5% year over year in 2025. In absolute terms, the company went from reporting profits of 14.9 trillion pesos in 2024 to just over 9 trillion pesos a year later, implying a reduction of nearly 5.9 trillion pesos (approximately US$1.6 billion).
The drop in profits was accompanied by a deterioration in other key financial indicators. The group’s sales revenue fell 10.2% compared with the previous year, declining from 133.3 trillion pesos (approximately US$35.5 billion) in 2024 to around 119.7 trillion pesos (approximately US$31.9 billion) in 2025.
At the same time, EBITDA — the measure of operating profitability before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization — also declined, standing at about 46.6 trillion pesos (approximately US$12.4 billion), representing a contraction of nearly 14%.
Although the company maintained relatively stable production levels, the results reflect a more complex environment for the energy industry. The decline in international oil prices, weaker sales dynamics, and various macroeconomic factors affected the company’s financial performance over the past year.
For its part, the company justifies this situation by the variation in the Brent price, pointing to the depreciation of profits as the result of “exogenous factors.”
“In 2025, excluding exogenous factors such as the drop in Brent and the TRM [Representative Exchange Rate], our normalized net profit would have reached 14.6 trillion (approximately US$3.9 billion). Despite this, we remain committed to generating value for shareholders and wealth for the country,” wrote Ecopetrol’s president, Ricardo Roa, in a comment on his personal account on the social network X.
In this regard, Roa highlighted that “total shareholder return, a combination of dividend distribution and stock appreciation, generated a return of 24% in Colombia and 39% in ADRs [American Depositary Receipts] in the United States,” as well as the company’s transfers to the state which, according to him, “in 2025 amounted to 35 trillion pesos [approximately US$9.3 billion], in taxes, royalties and dividends.”
The head of Ecopetrol concluded that “in a geopolitical context and a challenging environment, we exceeded the target of the savings and efficiencies program by 1.3 times, with 6.6 trillion pesos (approximately US$1.8 billion); accumulating 16 trillion pesos (approximately US$4.3 billion) over the last three years.”
En 2025, descontando los factores exógenos, como la caída del Brent y la TRM, nuestra utilidad neta normalizada, habría alcanzado 14,6 BCOP. A pesar de esto, seguimos comprometidos con la generación de valor a los accionistas y riqueza para el país.
– El retorno total al… pic.twitter.com/Ru0VsrVveO
— Ricardo Roa Barragan (@ricroabar) March 5, 2026
The impact of the economic environment
From the company’s leadership, much of the deterioration in profits is attributed to external factors that affected profit margins. Ecopetrol’s president explained that variables such as Brent price movements, inflation, the exchange rate, and new taxes introduced in the country directly influenced the final result.
Among the elements that most pressured the company’s accounts was the evolution of international crude prices, which registered lower levels than the previous year and reduced revenue per barrel sold.
This was compounded by operational difficulties related to logistical problems, blockades, and weather conditions that affected some loading operations in refineries and transport.
The behavior of the foreign exchange market also had effects on the results. Changes in the representative market exchange rate influenced dollar-denominated revenues and the company’s operating costs, while the inflationary environment increased some expenses associated with operations.
The deterioration in results became especially visible in the last quarter of the year. Between October and December 2025, the group’s profits fell by about 60%, dropping from 3.8 trillion pesos (approximately US$1.01 billion) in the same period of 2024 to about 1.5 trillion pesos (approximately US$400 million).
During that same quarter, revenue declined by more than 17%, while EBITDA also recorded a significant drop compared with the same period the previous year. This performance ultimately consolidated the negative balance for the annual fiscal year and highlighted the pressure the company faced toward the end of the year.
Despite this scenario, the company noted that the group’s production remained at levels close to 745,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a figure aligned with planned targets and comparable with that recorded in 2024. In the case of crude production in Colombia, levels even approached the highest recorded in the past five years.
Ecopetrol and its weight in the Colombian economy
Ecopetrol’s financial performance has particular relevance for the national economy due to the company’s weight in public finances. The Colombian state is the company’s majority shareholder, with about an 88.5% stake, meaning a significant portion of fiscal revenue comes from the dividends and taxes generated by the oil company.
For that reason, a significant drop in profits can have repercussions on government revenues and on the financing capacity of the national budget.
In addition, the company’s performance directly influences the behavior of the local stock market, where Ecopetrol is one of the most representative assets.
Despite the decline in profits, the company says that it still has a solid operational base and continues to implement efficiency programs and capital discipline to face a volatile energy environment.
The evolution of international oil prices and global macroeconomic conditions will be key factors in determining whether the oil company can reverse this trend in the coming years.
With profits at their lowest level since the economic shock of the pandemic, Ecopetrol’s performance once again places the role of the oil sector in the Colombian economy at the center of the debate and highlights the vulnerability of the country’s finances to cycles in the international energy market.