In his first press conference as acting president of Ecopetrol, Juan Carlos Hurtado Parra set a deliberately operational tone, laying out eight strategic priorities for the company while distancing himself from the political turbulence that preceded his appointment.
The governance fallout from Ricardo Roa’s leave of absence from Ecopetrol’s presidency has taken a new turn, with a minority shareholder of ISA filing a formal petition questioning whether his temporary removal from the helm of the parent company also affects his roles on the boards of subsidiaries ISA and Hocol.
Parex Resources reported Q1 2026 average production of 44,735 boed – below the low end of its full-year guidance range of 45,000–49,000 boed – driven primarily by declines and disappointing drilling results at its LLA-32 block.
Ecopetrol assumed direct operation of the gas processing plant at the Gibraltar field on April 1, 2026, following the expiry of a 15-year BOMT (Build, Operate, Maintain and Transfer) contract with Gas Gibraltar S.A.S.
Richard Francis, co-director of Sovereign Ratings for the Americas at Fitch Ratings, delivered a sober assessment of Colombia’s fiscal and economic outlook in an interview published April 6, 2026, estimating the country would need at least three to four additional years to recover the investment grade it lost in 2021.
Colombia’s Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio (SIC) announced on March 30, 2026 that it has opened a formal administrative procedure to evaluate a business integration request filed jointly by Ecopetrol S.A. and Gran Tierra Energy.
Ecopetrol’s Board of Directors, at a meeting held on April 6, 2026, approved an unpaid leave of absence requested by company President Ricardo Roa Barragán, authorized under Section 3 of Article 23 of the company’s bylaws.
Colombia’s environmental licensing authority ANLA granted Frontera Energy an environmental license to explore the VIM-46 block, an Exploratory Drilling Area located in the municipality of Magangué, Bolívar, in the Lower Magdalena Valley.
Ecopetrol has obtained water use certification for five additional production fields, bringing the total number of certified assets to 23 — a roster that includes the Barrancabermeja and Cartagena refineries.
Our 2026 publishing plan called for a discussion of CAPEX and Brent assumptions this week since we expected to have the major companies’ 2025 reports. We will do that but the Iran War has played havoc with oil prices and President Donald Trump’s speech the other night apparently reassured no one that global crude markets would return to normal anytime soon.
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