Ecopetrol, Colombia’s state-owned oil company, has announced that over the course of 2025 it will invest 8.8 trillion Colombian pesos (approximately US$2 billion) into the energy transition and the fight against climate change.
The investment will be allocated to projects in energy transition, energy transmission, roads, the fight against climate change, sustainability, innovation, science and technology, and biodiversity and ecosystem preservation.
Colombia’s Ecopetrol announces huge investment in energy transition
The investment was announced during a recent meeting of Ecopetrol’s Board of Directors, which was convening to approve the company’s annual investment budget for 2025. This will amount to between 24 and 28 trillion pesos (approximately US$5.3 to US$6.2 billion).
In a statement, Ecopetrol said that “around 6.5 trillion pesos [approximately US$1.4 billion], 24% of the annual budget, will be directed to Transition Energies and Power Transmission and Roads projects and other corporate investments.”
“This budget will be used to achieve the additional reduction of nearly 300,000 tons of CO2 emissions by 2025, contributing to the fulfillment of the emissions reduction goal by 2030,” the statement continued.
Ecopetrol also announced that 76% of the total budget approved for the coming year – around 20.3 trillion pesos (approximately US$4.5 billion) – will be allocated to the production of the equivalent of between 740,000 and 745,000 barrels of oil per day.
Ecopetrol’s objectives for Colombia in 2025
In terms of exploration and production, Ecopetrol reported that “the resources for 2025 amount to 17.2 trillion pesos [approximately US$3.8 billion].” This is “close to 52% of the annual budget for investments associated with crude oil and around 12% for investments associated with gas, [this] will allow us to reach organic production levels in 2025 between 740,000 and 745,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (78% crude oil, 17% gas and 5% white products),” the company said.
Over the course of 2025, the company also expects to drill between 455 and 465 wells, of which 79% of which will be in Colombia and the remaining 21% in the United States. A further 10 wells are expected to be drilled for exploration purposes, mainly in the Eastern Plains and offshore Caribbean area of Colombia.
“Investments in the refining segment are close to 1.6 trillion pesos [approximately US$360 billion],” the Ecopetrol statement continued. “This corresponds to 6% of the total estimated for 2025 and will be focused on ensuring the reliability, availability and sustainability of the operation of the Barrancabermeja and Cartagena refineries; in the development of programs that will allow us to reduce product imports; and in ensuring better quality fuels and maturing renewable fuel projects.”
Next year, Ecopetrol also expects to “develop the gas of the Colombian Caribbean […], providing a production of around 123 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (about 700 million cubic feet of natural gas), of which 85% is gas supply for the country.”