Ecopetrol Board Vote Set for 15 September as Output Falls
Colombia · ENERGY
Key Facts
- —Meeting The Ecopetrol board vote takes place on 15 September at 11:00 in Bogotá.
- —Ownership The Colombian state holds 88.49% of Ecopetrol shares through the finance ministry.
- —Slate Six new candidates and three sitting directors make up the government’s nine-name list.
- —Bylaws Shareholders will also vote to soften the rule requiring three incumbent directors.
- —Output Ecopetrol-operated fields produced 459,302 barrels of crude daily in July, down 2%.
The state holds 88.49% of the shares, so the Ecopetrol board vote is settled before it starts.
Ecopetrol called shareholders to an extraordinary meeting in Bogotá on 15 September, in a notice published on 28 August. The Ecopetrol board vote would install six new directors chosen by the finance ministry.
The notice Ecopetrol filed
Ecopetrol published the call notice on 28 August on its shareholder meeting pages. The session will be held at the company’s main building on Carrera 13 in Bogotá.
Proceedings start at 11:00 and will be broadcast live on the company website. Voting will be electronic, and shareholders are asked to bring smartphones with them.
Registration desks open at 09:00, and the notice suggests each proxy represent no more than 50 shareholders. Holders who cannot attend may appoint a proxy in writing under Colombia’s commercial code.
The document carries the signature of Alfonso Camilo Barco Muñoz as acting president. Ecopetrol has had no permanent chief executive since the end of July.
What the agenda actually asks
The agenda runs to nine items, and only the last one elects anybody. Item six proposes amending article 20 of the company bylaws.
The current text requires any slate to include at least three sitting directors. It excludes the eighth and ninth seats from that count.
The proposed text turns that duty into an aim, saying the company will seek to keep three. It adds that continuity is not a validity requirement and must not block full renewal.
Item nine then elects all nine directors by the electoral quotient system. That item is the Ecopetrol board vote itself, for the remainder of the 2025 to 2029 term.
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The six new names
The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit proposed the slate for the Ecopetrol board vote. Ecopetrol published a profile and a signed acceptance letter for every candidate.
Carlos Augusto Suárez Rojas is a lawyer who founded and runs the consultancy Estrategia & Poder. Colombian outlets including El Tiempo and Semana describe him as the campaign strategist for President Abelardo de la Espriella.
Ecopetrol’s published profile lists Suárez as an independent candidate and does not mention the campaign. His profile records past posts at the Cundinamarca comptroller’s office and the broadcaster Canal Capital.
Four of the six new candidates are classed as independent under Colombia’s securities law. Jaller and Vergara are listed as not independent, alongside the workers’ representative on the slate.
The rest of the new slate
Jorge Alberto Jaller Jaramillo spent his career at Almacenes Éxito, running its retail and Carulla units. José Camilo Manzur Jattin is a civil engineer and a former energy regulator.
Manzur has led Asocodis, the Colombian association of electricity distributors, since 2006. He previously headed the state hydropower company Urrá and served as a commissioner on the energy and gas regulator.
Ludmila del Carmen Vergara Rosales is a lawyer and Colombia’s current transport superintendent. Betzy Patricia Martínez is a lawyer from Barranquilla with banking, media and public advisory experience.
Claudia Margarita Lafaurie Taboada is an oil and gas lawyer, now legal vice president at CNE Oil and Gas. She was legal chief and hydrocarbon contracts vice president at the national hydrocarbons agency.
The three seats that stay
Three names on the slate already sit on the board and come from protected nomination channels. César Eduardo Loza Arenas holds the seventh seat as the workers’ representative.
Ricardo Rodríguez Yee holds the eighth seat, nominated by the departments where Ecopetrol produces hydrocarbons. Luis Felipe Henao Cardona holds the ninth, nominated by the ten largest minority shareholders.
Henao has chaired the board since 23 July, when Ángela María Robledo Gómez stepped down as chair. Hildebrando Vélez Galeano became vice chair on the same day.
Robledo and Lilia Tatiana Roa Avendaño both resigned from the board, effective 31 July. Ecopetrol said the remaining directors could still act, while flagging a possible meeting to restore the board.
Why 88.49% settles it
Ecopetrol’s own shareholder briefing for this meeting states that the Nation holds 88.49% of the shares. That stake sits with the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit.
Directors are elected by the electoral quotient, which divides the votes cast by the nine seats. A rival list needs close to one ninth of the votes cast to win a single seat.
Minority holders own the remaining 11.51% between them, and they rarely turn out in force. In practice the Ecopetrol board vote is decided before the meeting opens.
Minorities can nominate a full nine-name list, inspect documents, ask questions and vote against. What they cannot do is outvote the state on any item.
Production fell again in July
Fields that Ecopetrol operates in Colombia produced 459,302 barrels of crude a day in July. That is down from 468,778 barrels in July 2025, a fall of about 2%.
The figures come from the national hydrocarbons agency, the Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos. The agency warns that its monthly volumes may still be revised.
Gas fields operated by Ecopetrol delivered 784 million cubic feet a day in July. That is 5.6% below the 830.8 million cubic feet recorded a year earlier.
For the second quarter the group reported 705,800 barrels of oil equivalent a day. Ecopetrol blamed the 6.6% annual drop on road blockades in Meta and weaker Permian basin output.
The governance record behind the meeting
At the annual meeting on 27 March, shareholders chose between three competing dividend proposals. Ecopetrol proposed 110 pesos a share (US$0.03) and the finance ministry proposed 121 pesos (US$0.04).
The ministry’s figure won 90.92% of the vote, against 8.72% for the company’s own proposal. Those conversions use the official market rate of 3,202.79 pesos per dollar on 29 August.
A bylaw amendment proposed by the pension fund manager Colfondos drew 0.70% support and failed. Shareholders separately approved an occasional reserve of 20.7 trillion pesos (US$6.46 billion).
Ricardo Roa Barragán took leave, returned for four days and left the presidency on 30 July. Ecopetrol also disclosed a cybersecurity breach in July that hit 15 group companies.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where is the Ecopetrol board vote?
The Ecopetrol board vote happens on 15 September at 11:00. It takes place at the company’s main building on Carrera 13 in Bogotá, with live streaming.
Can minority shareholders block the government slate?
No, because the state holds 88.49% of the shares. Minorities can nominate candidates and vote against, but they cannot outvote the majority holder.
Which candidate details are confirmed by Ecopetrol itself?
All nine names, profiles and acceptance letters appear on Ecopetrol’s own meeting page. The description of Carlos Augusto Suárez Rojas as a campaign strategist comes from Colombian press reports.
Connected Coverage
Colombia Plans a US$6.84 Billion Spending Cut After Abyss Warning
Sources
- www.ecopetrol.com.co
- files.ecopetrol.com.co
- files.ecopetrol.com.co
- files.ecopetrol.com.co
- www.sec.gov
- www.anh.gov.co
- www.eltiempo.com
- www.elespectador.com
- www.larepublica.co
- www.datos.gov.co
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