Colombia's president orders national oil company to cancel US venture over environmental concerns Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday ordered the state-run oil company Ecopetrol to cancel a joint venture with a U.S.-owned company that was expected to produce around 90,000 barrels of oil per day, citing environmental concerns.
In a nationally televised speech, Petro said he opposed the recent extension of a deal between Ecopetrol and Occidental Petroleum, or Oxy, because it involved extracting oil through fracking, a controversial technique used to extract oil and gas from shale rock that has been criticized by environmental groups.
Ecopetrol had announced on Monday it would renew its operations with Oxy in the Permian basin, an oil producing region that spans Texas and New Mexico, to develop 91 oil wells, investing over $880 million.
Ecopetrol said its projects in the Permian basin produced an average of 95,200 barrels of oil per day in the first nine months of last year.
Ecopetrol, controlled by the Colombian government but also listed on the New York Stock Exchange, saw its shares rise 2% on Tuesday following the announcement of its deal with Occidental.
