
Monday, September 21st, 2026
Graford Santamaría Valbuena, currently Ecopetrol’s hydrocarbons financial director, was named the company’s new commercial and marketing vice president, taking over after Julio César Herrera Martínez’s mutually agreed departure from the role.


The Superintendencia de Sociedades identified 15 natural gas supply contracts – down from the 19 originally covered by a Canadian court’s insolvency ruling – as potentially subject to termination in Canacol Energy’s Colombian contracting review.
Ecopetrol’s new board elected Carlos Augusto Suárez Rojas – lawyer, political consultant, and one of President Abelardo De la Espriella’s closest strategists – as board chairman on September 17, with unanimous support.
Environment Minister Fabio Arjona detailed his ministry’s measures to shore up energy supply against El Niño during a September 9 congressional debate on the energy sector, the same session where MinEnergia Arboleda warned electricity tariffs must rise. Arjona said the ministry is working across several fronts, including expanding gas and water storage capacity for hydro dams.
Amazónica LNG formalized its contract with China’s Jereh Group, through subsidiary Jereh Oil & Gas Colombia, to advance construction of its regasification project in Palermo, Sitionuevo, Magdalena, an estimated US$180 million private investment.
Ecopetrol’s Extraordinary Shareholders’ Assembly approved a nine-member board for 2026-2029, with the government’s 88.5% stake carrying the vote.
Aquiles Mercado opens this El Heraldo column with the Greek etymology of “periplo” (circumnavigation) to frame Colombia’s growing dependence on imported LNG as a genuine journey with real costs.