After a positive operation in 2021, which reported a profit of $16.7 billion, the highest in the entire history of Ecopetrol, The Ordinary General Assembly of Shareholders of the oil company approved the payment of a dividend of $280 per title.
(Subsidiary of the Ecopetrol Group in Asia made the first sale of crude oil).
The endorsement, at the proposal of the company’s Board of Directors, of a dividend of $243 per share (60% of profit) and an extraordinary dividend of $37 per share (9% of profit), In short, it is 16 times more than what was turned over in 2020, which was $17.
“The payment of such a high dividend, which has not been recorded for nine years, is thanks to the solid financial position of the company, as well as the robustness of its cash, added to the behavior of the stock in the market that it has had a 44% growth in one year”, explained Felipe Bayón, president of Ecopetrol.
(Ecopetrol Shareholders Assembly returns to face-to-face).
Thus, with the approval of the payment of the dividend by 95.61% of the shareholders who attended the Ordinary General Assembly (which had a quorum of 92.69%), $10.2 trillion corresponds to the Nation, and little more than $1.3 trillion to minority shareholders. It is noteworthy that the money that enters the state coffers represents the equivalent of a tax reform.
Those attending the Assembly also endorsed the payment of dividends to minority shareholders on April 21, 2022 in a single installment, and for majority shareholders it will be made over the course of the year, in four installments, and with a maximum date of September 30 of this year.
“These resources will go to the Nation and to minority shareholders, and it is worth remembering that there are 254,000 shareholders of the company, some of them are pension funds”, Bayon stressed.
Likewise, the creation of a reserve for COP 8.88 billion was approved “aimed at providing support for the financial sustainability of the company and flexibility in the development of its strategy.”
Another of the significant changes approved at the ordinary general meeting of shareholders is the new validity that the Board of Directors will have of the oil company whose period goes from two to four years, and which includes the members of the current body.
“The Board of Directors of the company will be made up of nine main members without alternates, who will be elected by the General Assembly of Shareholders, by the electoral quotient system and for institutional periods of four years, and may be re-elected more than once for the same period. without exceeding three periods in total”, highlights the text endorsed by the attendees.
What caught our attention is that the company implements mechanisms to increase the participation of women in first and second level management positions, in line with its objectives of diversity and inclusion.
Similarly, that the organization seek formulas to designate, evaluate and remove the president of Ecopetrol, approve its succession policy and set its compensation according to the responsibility of the position and market guidelines.
WHAT’S COMING
During his speech, the president of the oil company, Felipe Bayón, stressed that the exploration efforts will be focused on a greater percentage for the search for natural gas in the national territory.
The business leader stressed that this operation will intensify in the department of Casanare, where there are currently four drills drilling in the foothills. “Also, through our subsidiary Hocol, more gas is sought in the Middle Valley of Magdalena”, stressed the president of Ecopetrol.
In the same way, he reiterated that they will put the accelerator to the task offshore, in the waters of the Caribbean Sea, and announced that this Tuesday “which just happened” at 11:30 in the morning, and in association with Shell they began to drill a delimiting exploratory well, off the coast of the Gulf of Morrosquillo.
“For exploration activities, the company allocated more than US$1.8 billion for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024, with a view to finding new natural gas deposits, both offshore and continental,” he said. Bayon.
ALFONSO LOPEZ SUAREZ
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