(Bloomberg) – Two members of Ecopetrol SA’s board stop following the corporate’s resolution to drag out of a $3.6 billion deal to purchase a stake in Texas shale oil property from Occidental Petroleum Corp.
The deal was “elementary” to the Colombian oil producer’s future and with out the sources it might have offered, its funds will deteriorate, Juan José Echavarría and Luis Alberto Zuleta wrote of their resignation letter, which is dated Aug. 30 however has already been revealed by native media. Echavarría confirmed by textual content message that he intends to resign on that date.
In Could, Ecopetrol’s board authorised the plan to purchase a 30% stake in Permian basin property that Oxy purchased from CrownRock LP, based on the letter. However after Colombian President Gustavo Petro advised Ecopetrol Chief Government Officer Ricardo Roa and a few board members in a casual July 31 assembly that he was against the deal, a majority of the board voted towards it, the letter states.
Petro has known as combating local weather change a matter of “life and loss of life,” proposed a ban on fracking and refused to grant licenses to discover new pure gasoline wells, at the same time as Colombia faces a shortfall of the gasoline.
“Some members of the board of administrators have expressed some discomfort” with the Occidental acquisition, Roa advised W Radio, confirming that the board will meet later this week. The dialogue of the deal “was very complicated,” he mentioned, including that it was unfaithful that the board at one level had authorised it. Ecopetrol didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
The acquisition was forecast so as to add 50,000 bpd to the state vitality firm’s manufacturing and develop its reserves by round 11%. Echavarría and Zuleta had been seen as the one two board members that weren’t political appointees.
“This message of presidency interference sends a really dangerous sign,” mentioned BTG Pactual analyst Daniel Guardiola. “The independence of an organization that’s publicly listed within the US isn’t being revered.”
Ecopetrol’s shares fell as a lot as 1% on the open in Bogotá buying and selling earlier than erasing losses. The corporate’s American depositary receipts are down 1.1%.