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President Gustavo Petro considers selling Ecopetrol’s Permian Basin assets essential for the company’s financial sustainability, but experts strongly disagree, viewing the move as both unviable and harmful to the stock.

Ecopetrol’s Board of Directors experienced significant changes in late November 2025, marking the second major departure in recent months and reshaping the leadership structure of Colombia’s state oil company.

President Gustavo Petro issued a stark warning that Ecopetrol should immediately sell its participation in the Permian Basin project in the United States, citing growing risks following his inclusion on the Clinton List (OFAC sanctions list).

Ballena on the Caribbean coast produces only a fraction of what it used to but still contributes an important amount to the country’s dwindling supplies. Ecopetrol also plans to convert it to a gas import facility.

Three controversies have engulfed Colombia’s state oil company Ecopetrol in recent weeks, involving alleged financial misconduct, irregular financial tracking, and violation of campaign financing laws when Ricardo Roa ran Gustavo Petro’s 2022 election bid.

Colombia’s ongoing fiscal crisis is expected to worsen in 2026 due to a sharp drop in the profits of Ecopetrol, the nation’s most important company. The urgency for cash is so significant that the current administration has introduced a third tax reform bill to Congress.

Ecopetrol (NYSE: EC) closed the third quarter of 2025 with mixed results: profits dropped nearly 30% to CoP$2.5T, reflecting the continued pressure of lower oil prices. But its investment outlook remains the same.

Ecopetrol’s (NYSE: EC) third-quarter results for 2025 confirmed a year marked by financial pressure, but with one standout exception: its Permian operations in the United States.

Ecopetrol published its 3Q25 financial results recently and as might be expected, the headlines screamed that earnings had fallen 28% which, in fact, they had, year-over-year. Sequentially however, they were up 41%. Should Ecopetrol be castigated for the year-over-year, applauded for the sequential growth, both or neither?

Ecopetrol’s (NYSE: ECP) official stance on the future of its Permian asset lasted only a few days before being publicly contradicted by Colombia’s Ministry of Finance (MinHacienda).