Organizational Consolidation

The world financial crisis that began in the last quarter of 2008 had repercussions on the oil sector, mainly in the decrease in the world crude demand, which dropped by more than 2 million barrels per day. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC has continued attempting to defend prices by restricting the crude supply.

Crude inventories in the countries of the OECD were above the averages of previous years, which shows that they were preparing for a possible relapse of the world economy.

On another note, the price of crude demonstrated positive behavior during that year. After the first quarter at 30 and 45 dollars per barrel, the year ended with prices over 70 dollars per barrel and more stable quotations.

In 2009, Ecopetrol executed investments for US $6.309 billion, 31% more than 2008.  60% of the portfolio was used on exploration and production projects.

In 2010, Ecopetrol has planned to invest US$6.925 billion, which shows the company¡s commitment to achieve a production of one million barrels per day by the year 2015.

In 2009, Ecopetrol’s strategic review process with the assistance of the firm Mackenzie came to a close, in which the megas proposed for its growth by the year 2015 and its consolidation by the year 2011 were reiterated.

Ecopetrol confirmed its strategy to increase crude and gas production and reserves by purchasing proven reserves for 109 million barrels equivalent with the acquisition of 50% of Offshore International Group, whose main asset is Savia Peru, and 100% of Hocol Colombia.

The acquisition of OIG, together with Korean company KNOC strengthens Ecopetrol’s strategy to grow in Peru and be an offshore operator on the international level. With Hocol, Ecopetrol increased its interest in Colombia through a company that is recognized in community management, corporate social responsibility and a well positioned team in the oil and gas industry.

Throughout the year, the results on the “Set of Projects” indicator stood out, when the company went beyond the goal established for December at 101%, which shows that Project Management is improving consistently for the achievement of the major goals by 2015.

Similarly, different organizational design projects were carried out for Ecopetrol as well as its subsidiaries, it continued to provide support and assistance for the Shared Service Center project, and the project to design the process management model for Ecopetrol S.A. and its Corporate Group was set in motion.

Ecopetrol updated and documented its internal control structure based on the recommendations of the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission – COSO as part of its compliance with the Sarbanes Oxley Act. Initiatives such as COBIT have been integrated in this updating process for the management of information technology and the incorporation of international practices in its internal auditing function.

The internal control system reached a level of development that enabled company management to set up internal controls on all the organization's processes and evaluate them on a periodic basis.

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