Colombian business journal Portafolio
reported on Monday that Colombia state oil company Ecopetrol, the largest
business in the country, is looking to sell off some of its stakes in other
companies and projects in order to make its operations more efficient.
According to Simón Gaviria, the director of the National Planning Department
and an Ecopetrol board member, the oil company, under the leadership of its new
president Juan Carlos Echeverry, wants to focus on its strategic oil
operations. Gaviria suggested, for example, that Ecopetrol could sell its stake
in Invercolsa S.A. for up to $450 million.
In other oil-related news, Colombian finance minister
Mauricio Cárdenas wrote an editorial in El
Espectador, the leading Colombian daily, about the need to confront the new
global oil reality. Cárdenas outlined the measures that the Colombian state has
taken to deal with this new reality, which he also presented to the World Bank
and IMF meetings in Washington, DC: first, a tax reform to generate additional
tax revenue; second, the postponement of $6 billion in government spending; and
lastly, a slight increase in the national deficit. The Colombian finance
minister also emphasized that Colombia has a diversified economy and will be
able to weather this storm. He pointed to the country’s growth projects for
this year, between 3% and 4%, and the fact that they are considerably higher
than the regional average of 0.9%.
On a negative note, a bomb attack shut
down the Cano Limon oil pipeline, operated by Ecopetrol. The oil company
has already activated its contingency plan to control the oil spill, and the
Colombian military was securing the area to make it safe for repairs. Reuters
noted that the pipeline normally carries 80,000 barrels per day, but attacks
rarely affect exports.
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