Ecopetrol to Receive Ex-Im Loan Guarantees

Colombia’s Ecopetrol will get a $420m medium-term loan guarantee facility and $459.8m long-term loan guarantee facility from the Export-Import Bank of the US. The proceeds will be used to finance the purchase of products from US companies to develop oil and gas reserves, improve oil field production and upgrade refineries. Ecopetrol plans to increase petrol production to 1m barrels per day by 2015. The long-term loan guarantee facility will be used to help modernize Colombia’s largest refinery, the Berrancabermeja refinery, with the project estimated to cost approximately $4bn. The medium-term facility will support capital investments in the company. The proceeds will help Ecopetrol to process heavy crude and increase overall production capacity, as well as help Ecopetrol use clean technology, said Javier Gutierrez, president of Ecopetrol.