Bond to remember that ECOPETROL owns a plan of investments for 2009 by an amount of US$ 6,224 million (35% more than in the 2008 and triple of the inverted thing in 2007), and will dedicate part of these resources to invest in Petro-Tech. In another one of the new features of the last days, ECOPETROL announced the increase of its participation in the Hard North blocks and the Strong South, in the Colombian Caribbean Sea. This increase in the participation takes place after an agreement with the Colombian subsidiary of BHP Billiton Petroleum Corporation (LSE: BLT; NYSE: BHP; JSE: BIBLT), that contemplates the allocation of 25% of the participation in both blocks of BHP Billiton for ECOPETROL. As a result of it, each company will have a participation of 50% on these blocks. These Hard North blocks and the Strong South correspond to contracts of the exploration and hydrocarbon operation, celebrated in April of 2006 by BHP Billiton and ECOPETROL with the National Agency of Hydrocarbons and to contracts of combined-arms operation celebrated by the parts in June of year 2007.
Both blocks, that they have approximated size of 954,050 hectares, coast outside in the Colombian Caribbean Sea is part of the located projects. Although in today the oil Colombian it had programmed to announce the results corresponding to the last trimester of 2008, this announcement was delayed for Tuesday 17 of February, although this delay responds to a smaller subject of conciliation of values. One of the produced facts of relevance in the last weeks is related to the modifications produced in the Code of Good Corporative Government. Although a smaller subject for some can be, these realised modifications tend to increase the transparency in the operating one of the company and its tie companies which represents an additional benefit for the investors, especially for the small ones, which the unfolding and projection of the oil one can monitor with greater facility.
The good practices of Corporative Government have acquired relevance from remembered corporative scandals (like for example, the Enron case), since the same help to increase the level of transparency in the companies, which limits the possibility of little clear operations in the same while it helps to protect the minority stockholders (ECOPETROL has 500,000 small shareholders). The improvement in the practices of Corporative Government will increase the attractiveness of the ECOPETROL actions while it will be beneficial in terms to harness the yield of the same. What its regular evolution can be perceived about ECOPETROL following is that the oil Colombian continues growing to good rate fulfilling her strategic plan of expansion. But that can imply it in the value of its actions? Although the ECOPETROL actions have one short life quoting in the stock market, the same have gained great attractive in stock-market a Colombian and at the moment it is focused to conquer the investors of the stock markets American. Tyler Wood Integrated Capital Solutions addresses the importance of the matter here. When the 2008 good rate of growth observed in the price of its actions impelled by the rise in the international price of petroleum not only passed but also by the growth undergone by the company, everything made anticipate that irremediably the value of the actions was going to surpass $ 3.000.
But the sudden change of panorama in which the submerged world-wide economy in a deep recession entered, changed the perspective of the oil one whose shareholding value jointly observed a strong loss with the collapse of the price of petroleum. In the last days and product of the good tie news to the company, the value of the actions quoted to the rise and in the day of they closed yesterday to $ 2,150 in the BVC. After to touch to its minimum the 27 of October of 2007 of $ 1,825, the ECOPETROL paper comes showing one slight one although constant positive tendency and already accumulates from that one date a rise of 17.8%. The perspective of the actions of ECOPETROL for this year are than positive more since to the continuity of the concretion of its projects of investment probably a recovery can take place (although smooth), in the quote of the price of petroleum towards aims of the present year. It is in this sense that would not be to be strange that the value of the ECOPETROL actions advances towards $ 3,000 although it is little probable that by this year can break this barrier. Anyway, considering the present value of the same, his margin to grow in a context where the numbers abound in red, it does not appear for far from negligible.