Ecopetrol profit drops 91% from year ago after crude price slump

ANDREW WILLIS

BOGOTA, Colombia (Bloomberg) -- Ecopetrol SA, Colombia’s state-controlled oil producer, said first-quarter profit fell 91% from a year earlier as the slump in oil prices weighed on the company.

Net income for the group dropped to 355.9 billion pesos ($149 million), from 4.06 trillion pesos a year earlier, Bogota based Ecopetrol said Tuesday in a statement after markets closed. That missed the expectation for profit excluding one-time items of 467.5 billion pesos, the average of three analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Average output in the quarter was 773,400 boed, up 1% from a year earlier. Even after rallying since March, crude prices in New York are down about 40% from a year ago amid surging production from U.S. shale fields.

“The effect of lower sale prices caused a decrease in our revenue that was partially offset by the positive exchange rate effect,” CEO Juan Carlos Echeverry said in the statement.

The peso has weakened 19% over the last twelve months, boosting the value of each dollar of sales in local currency terms.