Ecopetrol S.A. (Colombia)

Ecopetrol S.A. was founded in 1948 and is the largest and the principal petroleum company in Colombia. Because of its size, it belongs to a group of the 35 largest petroleum companies in the world and it is one of the four principal petroleum companies in Latin America. Ecopetrol is a semi-public company, as it is under the authority of the Ministry of Mines and Energy. It extracts petroleum, hydrocarbons and natural gas and generates more than 60% of the national oil production. In addition, it owns the two biggest oil refineries, the main part of the pipelines and is increasing its participation in the biofuels industry. The company operates in the following business segments: exploration and production, transportation, refining and petrochemicals, and marketing and supply. It exploits more than 100 gas and petroleum fields and participates in other fields in Colombia with third parts, through association contracts, that allows it to be the first hydrocarbon producer in the country. Ecopetrol maintains exploration and production activities in Brazil, Peru and in the Gulf of Mexico as well.