Colombia’s Oil Giant Ecopetrol: The Anchor Holding an Economy—and the Weight of Its Future

Colombia’s Oil Giant Ecopetrol: The Anchor Holding an Economy—and the Weight of Its Future

Ecopetrol, Colombia’s state-controlled oil company, remains the backbone of the nation’s economy. In 2024, it generated $133.3 trillion COP ($32.3 billion) in revenue, contributing 1.84% of Colombia’s GDP. It also transferred $42.0 trillion COP ($10.2 billion) to the government and shareholders through taxes, dividends, and royalties. This financial lifeline funds roughly 10% of the national […]

The Ecopetrol crisis, the largest company in Colombia, is a delicate case and an uncertain obstacle for the future of the Colombian economy. It is enough to remember that the company contributes about 12 or 15% of the tax revenues of the country. Now it adds a reputational scandal. It is the leak to the press of a millionaire external audit contracted without the approval of the board of directors to evaluate the impact of the judicial problems …

The revelations about the magnitude of a contract to investigate and evaluate the impact on the Ecopetrol Group of the corruption allegations that weigh on its president, Ricardo Roa, have generated an unprecedented crisis in the company. Behind the pocket board appointed by President Gustavo Petro in Ecopetrol, a contract with the law firm gringo Covington & Burling was extended by $5 million to determine the risks posed to US authorities by Ro…

Ecopetrol's main headquarters. Credit: Ecopetrol's Facebook Through a statement, Ecopetrol referred to the controversy related to the signed contract to analyze the impact of the cases of the company's president, Ricardo Roa. In the document, the company highlighted that, since 2008, when it began trading on the New York Stock Exchange, it has an internal control system and due diligence processes.

The last bell was the resignation of Mónica de Greiff's board of directors after it became known that Alberto Vergara who has been in the company for 25 years had acted only The article The Vice President of Ecopetrol who signed controversial $5 million contract with gringa company was originally published in Las2orillas. Copyrights Las2orillas.co

The Attorney General's Office opened a disciplinary investigation against Ecopetrol officials for alleged irregularities related to a contract concluded between the state oil company and the U.S. firm Covington & Burling LLP. The agreement, valued at approximately $5 million, was aimed at conducting a consultancy on reputational risk analysis of Ecopetrol President Ricardo Roa. According to the information published by Semana magazine, the contr…