Colombian head Petro wants Ecopetrol to sell stake in Texas oil field

Sept. 17 (UPI) — President Gustavo Petro said Ecopetrol should sell its stake in a Texas oil field it operates with multinational Occidental Petroleum and use the proceeds to fund clean energy projects in Colombia.

“Insisting on oil and coal is a national economic suicide because it destroys jobs. And it is literally a global collective suicide. Capital must — and if it does not want to, it must be forced — to leave the hydrocarbons sector, or humanity will become extinct,” the president said on his X account.

Ecopetrol is Colombia’s largest company and one of the leading oil and gas producers in Latin America, engaged in exploration, production, transportation, refining and marketing. The Colombian government holds about 88.5% of the company’s shares through state entities.

In his message, Petro said, “Colombia needs an Ecopetrol transformed into Ecoenergía, which would be a major global exporter of clean energy.”

He said ISA — the infrastructure group that operates in the electric power sector — should prioritize electrical interconnection with Panama, Venezuela and Ecuador. He added that it is necessary “to reduce U.S. demand for fossil fuels, with abundant clean energy supplied through power grids or ships from South America.”

It is not the first time the president has made this request. In February, during a Cabinet meeting, he called for Ecopetrol to abandon its fracking operations in the United States, using the same argument: to accelerate the country’s energy transition.

However, Petro’s proposal drew criticism because the Texas operation has become one of the oil company’s most productive. According to company figures, that business represents about 13% of Ecopetrol’s total hydrocarbon production and has helped keep supply stable during periods of declining profits and sales.

Colombia’s Oil Workers Union, the country’s main oil industry labor union, has warned that an exit from the Texas operation could mean the loss of up to 100,000 barrels per day, along with a hit to the company’s value and revenue stability.

Former Mines and Energy Minister Juan Camilo Restrepo questioned the president’s proposal. On X, he said Petro was ordering the sale of “Ecopetrol’s most profitable investment” without technical studies to justify a measure of that scale.

The debate recalls what happened last year, when the government blocked the purchase of 30% of Crown Rock — an oil and gas exploration and production company in the Permian Basin — in a deal that would have increased Ecopetrol’s U.S. production by 15%. The decision was criticized at the time by the industry.

Ecopetrol closed 2024 with its highest output in nine years: an average of 746,000 barrels per day and record sales.

In its financial results, the company reported revenue of about $33.3 billion and net profit of $3.73 billion in 2024. Those figures represent a 22% annual drop in net income, due to lower crude prices and exchange rate effects.