Colombia: Ecopetrol Scandal Widens as Ex-Vice-President Points to the Presidential Palace
COLOMBIA · ENERGY
Key Facts
—What happened: The Ecopetrol scandal widens: a former vice-president says the presidential palace pressured him over a gas deal routed through Houston, then pushed him to resign.
—The deal: An unsolicited offer from Ecuador’s Sycar LNG reached Ecopetrol’s Houston office on 8 May, allegedly on the vice-president’s recommendation.
—The allegation: Investigators are examining claims of bribe offers worth US$0.40 per million cubic feet of gas negotiated.
—The catch: The accuser is himself accused; Bayron Triana denies pushing a direct purchase and says he asked compliance officers to protect the process.
—Who is named: A source says some pressure came from people close to former first lady Verónica Alcocer, nicknamed “the dancer” internally.
—What comes next: A forensic anti-corruption audit led by board member Ricardo Rodríguez Yee will review the case, and prosecutors may be called in.
The Ecopetrol scandal has jumped from the boardroom to the palace. A former vice-president of Colombia’s state oil company says pressure to approve a gas deal came from the presidential palace itself, and the company’s forensic audit will now dig through the contracts.
An offer nobody asked for arrives in Houston
The new episode, reconstructed by the investigative unit of the newspaper El Tiempo and reported on Monday by El Colombiano, began on 8 May. Ecopetrol’s office in Houston, Texas, received a proposal to sell liquefied natural gas that the company had not requested.
The offer came from Sycar LNG, an Ecuadorian firm part-owned by the Chilean group LipiAndes. Complaints now in the hands of Ecopetrol’s board say it arrived on the recommendation of Bayron Triana, then vice-president for transition energies and a confidant of company president Ricardo Roa.
The context made it explosive. Colombia faces a gas deficit and fears of power rationing from the El Niño weather phenomenon, and executives allege bribe offers of US$0.40 per million cubic feet circulated as multi-million-dollar gas deals were being negotiated in the final months of the Petro government.
Weeks earlier, an open tender in Bogotá had failed because offered prices exceeded what buyers would pay. A direct route through Houston would have sidestepped Colombia’s election-period contracting restrictions, known as the Ley de Garantías, which did not cover the US subsidiary.
Pressure from the palace, then a resignation
Triana resigned on 22 July, one day after then-president Gustavo Petro publicly questioned him over delays in importing gas and insinuated he might seek personal benefit from his post. Triana says his resignation was voluntary.
He also acknowledges receiving multiple messages pressing him to authorise the direct purchase. He was allegedly warned he could lose his job, then advised to resign or face media exposure, pressure he says came from the presidential palace through intermediaries.
A second source cited by El Tiempo goes further into the palace. Part of the pressure allegedly came from people close to then-first lady Verónica Alcocer, referred to internally by the nickname “la bailarina”, the dancer.
Triana denies ever pushing a direct deal or instructing Houston to dodge the Ley de Garantías. He says he asked Ecopetrol’s compliance department for support and alerted the head of the board’s audit committee, and his allies note Petro himself criticised him for not importing faster.
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A board fight that now reads differently
Readers following our coverage will recognise the terrain. The forensic anti-corruption audit that will review this case is led by Ricardo Rodríguez Yee, the board member backed by six oil-producing governors, whom we profiled in our report on the Ecopetrol board fight.
The audit lands as the new government of President Abelardo De La Espriella moves to replace six of the nine board members at a shareholders’ meeting on 15 September. The government’s slate, detailed in our account of the six candidates, is now public.
The timing is not neutral for the Ecopetrol scandal. Whoever controls the board after 15 September will control how far the audit goes, and whether the Ecopetrol scandal reaches the attorney general’s office or Congress’s Accusations Commission, which investigates former presidents.
A management purge is already under way. Five senior executives left from Sunday 30 August, with changes also at the top of the subsidiaries Hocol and Cenit.
What the accused and the bidder say
From Guayaquil, Sycar’s president and shareholder Rafael Jaramillo Pita confirmed his company sent the unsolicited offer to the US office. He called it normal practice, said Sycar knew the Colombian market from the failed Bogotá tender, and denied receiving privileged information.
Ecopetrol itself slowed everything down in July. After the first press revelations, it ordered a formal comparison of offers, in which the firm 61-C came out best for supplying Buenaventura and the Caribbean coast, followed by Shell, and the process was frozen at the end of the month.
The questions the audit must answer are precise, and they define how far the Ecopetrol scandal travels. Who ordered exploration of a direct negotiation, why parallel processes were opened, and where the pressure described by Triana originated.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the new Ecopetrol scandal about?
An unsolicited liquefied natural gas offer from Ecuador’s Sycar LNG reached Ecopetrol’s Houston office on 8 May 2026. Investigators are examining claims of bribe offers of US$0.40 per million cubic feet and alleged pressure from the presidential palace to approve a direct purchase.
Who is Bayron Triana?
Bayron Triana was Ecopetrol’s vice-president for transition energies and a confidant of company president Ricardo Roa. He resigned on 22 July 2026, one day after then-president Gustavo Petro publicly questioned him over gas import delays.
How is former first lady Verónica Alcocer connected?
A source cited by El Tiempo says part of the pressure on Triana came from people close to Verónica Alcocer, referred to internally as “la bailarina”. The contracts touched by the episode will be reviewed in Ecopetrol’s forensic anti-corruption audit.
What happens next at Ecopetrol?
Board member Ricardo Rodríguez Yee leads a forensic audit of the case. Ecopetrol may refer it to the attorney general or to Congress’s Accusations Commission, and a 15 September shareholders’ meeting will vote on replacing six of nine board members.
Connected Coverage
Read the background in Colombia’s governors close ranks behind Rodríguez Yee as the Ecopetrol board fight deepens and Colombia sets September vote to replace six of nine Ecopetrol board members, plus the market angle in Ecopetrol board vote set for 15 September as output falls.
Sources: El Colombiano, El Tiempo investigative unit, Ecopetrol statements. Exchange rate: 3,170 COP per US$ (31 August 2026).
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