Investors are taking a cautious, wait-and-see stance on Joaquín Gutiérrez’s appointment as Ecopetrol’s new CEO, a notably cooler reception than the government’s own confidence in the pick.
A malfunction in one of the floating regasification unit’s trains at the SPEC terminal in Cartagena forced Colombia into temporary industrial gas rationing starting September 24th, cutting the terminal’s capacity from 475 to 400 mmcfd and restricting roughly 15 GBTU/day of demand normally covered by imported gas.
New Ecopetrol president Joaquín Gutiérrez Caballero used his swearing-in at La Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino in Santa Marta to announce that the company will resume both fracking and offshore exploration.
Facing a fiscal deficit CARF projects could reach 10% of GDP by the close of 2027 and net debt around 67.3% of GDP, former Finance Minister Mauricio Cárdenas told Blu Radio that selling Ecopetrol’s majority stake in ISA to Colombia’s pension funds would be a smart move.
Ecopetrol’s full board unanimously designated Joaquín Gutiérrez Caballero as the company’s new president on September 24th, following what the company called a structured, agile selection process aimed at finding an “coordinating leader” capable of turning challenges into concrete results.
GeoPark scored highest provisionally for the Corralera Noreste block in Neuquén, Argentina’s Ronda 1/2026 exploratory round, run by Gas y Petróleo del Neuquén (GyP).
GeoPark CEO Felipe Bayón told Acipet’s XXIII Colombian Oil, Gas, and Energy Congress in Bucaramanga that Colombia’s unconventional resources (YNC) represent a major opportunity, framing the case in terms of national self-sufficiency: “energy sovereignty is about taking control of our destiny,” he said.
Ecopetrol’s board turnover, approved September 15th at an extraordinary shareholders assembly, replaced six of nine members while retaining Ricardo Rodríguez Yee, César Loza, and Luis Felipe Henao.
At Ecopetrol’s September 15 Extraordinary Shareholders Assembly, former senator and minority shareholder Jorge Enrique Robledo challenged President Abelardo De la Espriella’s economic vision for the company, calling it characteristic of “neoliberalism” and warning against treating national and foreign capital as equivalent in company decisions.
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.
2026, Hydrocarbons Colombia, All Rights Reserved.
