LatinNews Daily - 08 May 2024

*Colombia’s state oil company, Ecopetrol, has released its latest quarterly report, showing a 29.1% year-on-year fall in its net profits in the first quarter of 2024. Net profits in Q1 were Col$4.01trn (US$1.03bn), down from Col$5.66trn in the first quarter of 2023. Total sales fell by 19.4% to Col$31.03trn, while earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) fell by 20.2% to Col$14.23trn. Ecopetrol’s president, Ricardo Roa, was cited in the report as saying that in the first quarter of this year the company “has navigated an environment impacted by outside variables, with an increase in the cost of energy, inflationary pressures, a revaluation of the Colombian peso, and lower prices for refined products”.