Felipe Bayón will be at Ecopetrol until December 31after seven years with the company, initially as executive vice president and then as president, since September 2017.
This news caused the value of his share to fall on the Colombian Stock Exchange (BVC) and a great expectation followed to find out who his replacement will be, that an international firm will look for him. The title yesterday closed at 2,607 pesos, with a fall of 3.19 percent.
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Bayon assured that his departure was agreed and it had nothing to do with the government’s decision not to award new oil contracts.
«We managed to have that conversation with the board of directors and reach an agreement point,» he said. Therefore, he will be able to lead the delivery of financial results for 2022 and at the Shareholders’ Meeting, which will traditionally take place on the last Friday of March.
«Institutions and organizations must be preserved in life. People come and go and cycles are important, and what better way than to leave with the satisfaction of having fulfilled your duty, having been part of Ecopetrol’s closing transformation”, he added.
He also stated that he is willing to support an orderly transition within the company and work with the new president, man or woman, «so that Ecopetrol continues to be that efficient company.»
The person who arrived assured, Bayón, already has a strategy for 2040, an investment budget approved for this year and «You must quickly enter to understand the businessSeeing the opportunities and knowing how to be competent are the challenges.» Likewise, it has the challenge of keeping the company resilient and operating ethically, efficiently, and safely.
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Achievements in more than 5 years
Felipe Bayón highlighted as his greatest pride having helped transform the companythat he went from only producing hydrocarbons to having 200 megawatts of solar energy in operation, despite being told at first that «solar farms were not possible, financially the numbers did not add up.»
This is in addition to the fact that 2022 was the safest year in Ecopetrol’s operation, having overcome difficult crises such as Covid-19, the acquisition of ISA, and internationalization in Brazil and the United States.
Bayón is completely sure that Ecopetrol has «a very solid future» and this is due to the fact that in recent years it has managed to save more than 20 billion pesos, it is betting on gas exploration, it is increasing its production and it expanded the capacity of Reficar so that Colombians can have fuels of the highest quality. quality.
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The challenges that come
For Felipe Bayón, it is essential that Ecopetrol maintain its production of hydrocarbons because this is the company’s box and the one that allows paying dividends, taxes and royalties.
Additionally, speed up offshore natural gas discoveries and in the Piedmonte Llanero, continue seeking efficiencies between ISA and Ecopetrol, ensure the crude oil to load the refineries and accelerate the energy transition agenda.
On this last issue, he stressed that it is important that the additional parks that are under development come into operation as planned, that the wind measurements can make wind projects and that the geothermal project that will begin to be implemented towards the middle of the year in Campo Apiay will become a reality.
In hydrogen, the goal is to go from 130,000 to one million tons of production for the local and international market. Similarly, through Cenit, the construction of a 4.3 megawatt small hydroelectric plant.
Another important point that appeared is that Ecopetrol is currently not looking at the possibility of buying gas from Venezuela. «Today there are some very large discoveries in the Colombian Caribbean and in Casanare. I think the best possibility is that we Colombians consume Colombian gas,» he said.
Finally, Bayón considers it key for the company to continue advancing in the energy transition, while protect your traditional business so that Colombians can have gasoline, diesel, jet and petrochemicals and so that these businesses, which are increasingly decarbonizing, allow financing the energy transition.