Ecopetrol net income jumps 85.6% to 4.758 trillion pesos in third quarter
Key Facts
Ecopetrol reported net income of 4.758 trillion Colombian pesos in the third quarter of 2026, up 85.6% from 2.563 trillion in the same period of 2025, according to its quarterly report. Net income for the nine months ended September 30 totaled 13.709 trillion pesos, up 82.7% from 7.502 trillion in the same period a year earlier. The results put the company's performance in the context of a quarter in which sales and operating profit rose despite pressure from production, maintenance and the tax burden. In an earlier filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company had forecast a 21% to 23% decline in net profit attributable to shareholders compared with the second quarter. It also forecast a 12% to 14% quarter-on-quarter decline in sales and operating revenue; the quarterly report presents the recorded results against the third quarter of 2025.
Third-quarter gross sales rose to 35.064 trillion pesos from 29.840 trillion a year earlier, an annual increase of 17.5%. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose to 15.871 trillion pesos, compared with 12.326 trillion in the third quarter of 2025, a gain of 28.8%. The company attributed the strong results to the pricing environment, which helped offset operational pressure from lower production and scheduled maintenance at the Barrancabermeja refinery. The average price of Brent crude rose to $91 a barrel during the quarter from $68 in the comparable period, an increase of 33.9%. The company said, "The pricing environment was a key driver of results and helped offset operational pressure from lower production and scheduled maintenance" at the refinery.
The average realized price for the basket of crude and products sold by the company was $110.3 a barrel, up from $73.6 a year earlier, or 49.9%. The basket posted a premium of $19 a barrel over Brent in the third quarter, which the company said was the highest premium at group level since 2015. On production, the group's average output was 747,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day, down 0.5% from 751,000 in the same period of 2025. Ecopetrol said the consolidation of Brava's production offset the impact of lower output in the United States and the natural decline of Colombian fields. The figures show a divergence between higher realized prices and sales on one hand, and a slight decline in consolidated production on the other.
Ecopetrol completed its acquisition of 51% of Brava Energia in August, and began including its financial results in the group in September. In its first month of consolidation, Brava contributed 0.6 trillion pesos to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and 0.1 trillion to net income. The company's effective tax rate rose to 37.7% in the third quarter from 31.2% a year earlier. The company attributed the increase to the wealth tax and the surcharge on income tax, which rose from 0% in 2025 to 15% in 2026. In its initial forecast, it had noted an expected retroactive effect from the income-tax surcharge.
In its earlier filing, the company linked the expected quarterly decline in sales and operating revenue to a lower exchange rate and sales volume, as well as reduced refining activity during scheduled maintenance at the Barrancabermeja refinery. It said at the time that its preliminary results and performance for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2026, were expected to be consistent with the corresponding periods of 2025. The subsequent quarterly report shows year-on-year increases in quarterly net income, sales and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The decline forecast in the earlier filing was compared with the second quarter, not the year-earlier quarter. Chief Executive Joaquín Gutiérrez said the company "is beginning a new phase focused on strengthening business competitiveness, restoring market confidence and executing a strategy aimed at creating sustainable value."
Ecopetrol announced that its third-quarter results would be released after the market close on November 12, 2026, and scheduled a virtual management conference for November 13 at 10:00 a.m. Colombia and New York time. The company's shares, traded under the ticker EC, closed at $15.3 on November 11, according to EL7 data. This is the closing price available for the session before the results announcement; no verified session high or low was available in the data. The management conference is the next scheduled event for discussing the results. The report did not provide another figure for the share-price movement following the announcement.