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Ecopetrol, Petrobras report

successes with exports in 2020

REPRESENTATIVES of Colombia’s national The increase in deliveries to Asia marks a
oil company (NOC) Ecopetrol and its Brazilian shift for the Colombian company, which re-ori-
counterpart Petrobras said last week at a con- ented its export strategy to focus on heavy crude
ference hosted by Argus Media that their com- deliveries to Latin America in 2017. Since that
panies had chalked up a number of successes in time, Ecopetrol has seen its market share in the
2020, despite disruptions stemming from the Caribbean and Central America decline from
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 18% to 4%, but it has also gained customers
Alexandre Trevia Leite, the global head of elsewhere.
international trade at Petrobras, said that his Indeed, Manrique said last week that Petro-
company had managed to weather the fall in bras’ successes in Asia posed no threat to his
demand from China, which typically purchases company. “With Brazil, we see that we comple-
60-65% of Brazil’s oil exports. Petrobras was ment each other,” he said. “Most of our [Colom-
able to find new buyers without difficulty, he bian crudes] are on the heavy side, and Brazil is
declared. moving more toward intermediate and lighter
“In 2020 alone, we managed to sell and create crudes. If you look at the end-users, (mainly
14 new customers specifically for [production China and India), they both need the same type
from] Búzios,” he said, referring to the offshore of crudes.” ™
oilfield in the Santos basin.
Petrobras exported about 680,000 barrels per
day (bpd) of oil in 2020, Leite added, without
providing a comparative figure for the previous
year. He also said that the company’s crude had
been delivered to 41 different refineries in 18
countries.
For his part, Pedro Manrique, Ecopetrol’s
vice-president for commercial and marketing
operations, reported that his company had
exported some 411,000 bpd of oil last year, up
from 342,000 bpd in 2017. About half of all
exports went to Asia-Pacific markets in 2020,
up from around 30% in 2017, he noted, adding
that Ecopetrol had resumed shipments to India
and South Korea last year. Petrobras was able to find new buyers in 2020 (Photo: Poder 360)

COLOMBIA
ACP says investment in Colombian

oil and gas plummeted in 2020

INVESTMENT in Colombian oil and gas pro- on exploration projects was down by more than
jects dropped last year to its lowest level since 55%, sinking from $780mn in 2019 to $350mn
2016, according to a private industry group in 2020. It also came in 62% below the target fig-
known as the Colombian Petroleum Associa- ure of about $921mn.
tion (ACP). Likewise, spending on production dropped
In a report published last week, ACP said by around 48%, falling from about $3.3bn in
that Colombia’s hydrocarbon sector had 2019 to $1.7bn in the following year. It was
attracted a total of $2.05bn worth of investment also more than 58% below the target figure of
in 2020, down by 49% year on year. Spending $4.05bn.

P6 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 05 04•February•2021