Operational Updates | Suspend or Reduced Operations | Incidents / Accidents

Ecopetrol Details Ops, Challenges as Colombian Unrest Continues

Share Print Bookmark    |    Thursday,May 27,2021

Ecopetrol S.A. has commented about certain adverse consequences in the operation of its upstream, midstream, downstream and commercial and marketing segments, due to the ongoing public order situation in Colombia whereby social protests have resulted in blockades of the country's main roads and isolated incidents against certain of the Ecopetrol Group's infrastructure.

In the upstream segment, the Group's production throughout May has been 651 mboed. The most significant impacts have been in gas and white products (LPG and NGL), mainly in the Cusiana and Floreña fields, and to a lesser extent to crude oil from the Putumayo, Meta, Arauca and Boyacá Departments. Production in this segment has also been affected by prevailing operating restrictions related to water management in the Castilla field.

In the midstream segment, the accumulation of high levels of inventories in the wholesale plants and the pipelines network has led Cenit to suspend, intermittently, pumping at some of its systems, which has resulted in a month-to-date volume of refined products transported of 224 mbd. The volume of crude oil transported month-to-date has been 716 mbd.

In the downstream segment, the Barrancabermeja refinery has recorded a throughput of 207 mbd in May, given the lower availability of domestic crude and low withdrawals of fuel, petrochemical and industrial products. The Cartagena refinery's operations have not been impacted.

In commercial and marketing, there has been a decrease in the national demand for diesel (-33%), gasoline (-15%) and jet fuel (-1%) as compared to the expected demand levels for May. In addition, the demand for Ecopetrol's gas from the thermal and industrial sectors has decreased approximately 16% month-to-date, and the demand for LPG in 41% in the same time period. The Departments with the greatest impact in terms of fuel supply have been Valle del Cauca, Nariño, Cauca, Huila and Caquetá.

In response to the foregoing, the Ecopetrol Group is implementing adjustments to its operations and logistics in order to mitigate the negative impact on fuel supply to the different regions of Colombia.

As of the date of this release, Ecopetrol currently estimates that these adverse consequences should not have a material impact on Ecopetrol's ability to fulfill its business plan targets for 2021.