News and AnalysIs for

Ecopetrol has named Armando José Cuello Navarro, who served as deputy minister of energy, as vice president of Energy for the Transition, and he will join the executive team no later than Oct. 27.

Multinsa, a petrochemical company in Barrancabermeja, says nanotechnology and artificial intelligence are at the core of its oil and gas products, and that it sees 2026 as a transition year with expectations pointing to 2027.

Brent closed at US$116.58 per barrel last Friday, October 23^rd, and as we write on Monday, it closed at US$115.13, today having been back to US$117.11 and as low as US$114.21. Exactly one year ago, Brent’s Friday close was US$65.69 and we wrote about how E&Ps might react if it fell further.

Campetrol, the oil, gas and energy chamber, has proposed measures to strengthen Colombia’s oil and gas sector, including more output from existing fields, onshore and Caribbean development, and expanded exploration.

Four industry associations have asked the government to eliminate the income-tax surcharge on oil extraction in its Rescue Law and to set stable rules for large investments.

Fitch Ratings has affirmed Ecopetrol’s top national rating but forecasts that its 2026 production will fall 3%, to 724,000 boepd, on lower gas output.

Fuel rose from 28% to 38% of Latin American airlines’ operating costs in a year, ALTA chief executive Peter Cerdá said, with total fuel spending up about 80%.

Gasoline reference prices range from CoP$13,920 per gallon in Pasto to CoP$16,431 in Villavicencio under the October fuel schedule, while diesel runs from CoP$9,486 in Cúcuta to CoP$11,763 in Cali.

Analysts warn that Ecopetrol’s decision to void its offers to buy imported gas could leave Colombia’s two new regasification terminals without supply and widen the gas deficit by March 2027.

Naturgas president Luz Stella Murgas says Colombia’s national production can no longer cover total gas demand and that imports should continue as a reliability mechanism while exploration bottlenecks are cleared.