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Ecopetrol investments up for 2009
December 18, 2008 BOGOTA -- Colombian state oil company Ecopetrol SA today said it plans to invest USD 6.224 billion (EUR 4.297bn) in 2009, up 35% from 2008.
The investments in hydrocarbon exploration and production will account for 60.5% of the total investment in 2009.
Ecopetrol will invest USD 2.715 billion for production in order to increase its direct oil and natural gas output to 457,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), up from 446,000 boed for January to October 2008. The investment will focus on fields in the Llanos Orientales and Middle Magdalena basins, such as the heavy oil fields Castilla and Rubiales and the mature fields La Cira-Infantas, Yarigui-Cantagallo, Casabe and Llanito Lisama. Ecopetrol will also target the development of gas production in the Cupiagua and Gibraltar fields.
The company will allocate USD 500 million for investments abroad. It plans to drill 28 exploratory wells in 2009, four of which will be drilled abroad in association with other partners. Ecopetrol participates in exploration projects in the US Gulf of Mexico, Peru and Brazil.
In addition, the company will start activities in the Colombian blocks it has won in local tender rounds in 2008.
The plan also includes a USD 60 million investment in projects, aimed at diversifying the national energy mix, such as the Bioenergy ethanol plant in the Llanos region.
© 2008 AII Data Processing Ltd.
