Ecopetrol's Q2 net profits fall 17.4% to $830.9 million

Ecopetrol, Colombia's largest state-owned oil firm, reported on Tuesday a 17 percent drop in its second-quarter profit. The company cited market conditions.

Ecopetrol reported in its quarterly earnings report that the net profit for the quarter ended June 30 was 3.38 trillion pesos (US$830.9 million). The first-half net loss fell by 24%, to 7.39 trillion Pesos. This compares with 9.75 trillion Pesos for the first half of 2023.

In the report, Chief Executive Ricardo Roa stated that "Ecopetrol faces a challenging environment which is still impacted by external variables such as the revaluation the Colombian Peso and inflationary forces."

Ecopetrol's shares closed Tuesday at 2,110 Colombian Pesos each, a drop of 2.08% before the results were released.

Both regional peers, Mexico and Brazil, posted losses in the second quarter for the three-month period ending June.

Mexico's Pemex reported last month a swing to an estimated net loss of 14 billion dollars, while Brazil's Petrobras posted its first quarterly loss in three years - $470 million due to non-recurring taxes.

It said that the company's total quarterly sales fell by 4.9%, to 32.63 trillion Pesos between April and June.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), which were 14.6 trillion pesos a year ago, fell by 3.7%, to 14.05 trillion.

Ecopetrol’s US Permian Basin operations, which saw a 67% increase in production to 98.200 barrels equivalent per day, were the main contributors to the company's second-quarter production growth of 4.1%.

(source: Reuters)