Ecopetrol exported a record 500,000-barrel fuel oil cargo from the Puerto Bahía terminal in Cartagena, doubling the Colombian state-run company’s previous single-shipment export capacity, La República reported.
The cargo, processed at Ecopetrol’s Barrancabermeja refinery and marketed through subsidiary Ecopetrol US Trading, marks one of the company’s largest recent logistics operations as it seeks to strengthen fuel exports to the United States, Asia, Central America and the Caribbean.
The shipment lifted loading capacity at the Caribbean terminal to 30,000 barrels per hour, a rate Ecopetrol said represented a significant operational improvement for its external trade business.
Julio César Herrera, the company’s vice-president for commercial and marketing operations, said the milestone effectively doubled the export scale previously achieved in a single cargo originating from the Barrancabermeja refinery.
The operation began inland in Barrancabermeja, where the fuel oil was transported along the Magdalena River over seven days using 12 convoy formations, each made up of eight barges, before reaching the export terminal near Cartagena.
The increased logistics capacity is expected to help Ecopetrol lower transportation costs and improve the efficiency of refinery exports at a time when Latin American refiners are competing for market share amid volatile fuel demand and shipping costs.
Fuel oil exports have become an increasingly important source of hard-currency revenue for Ecopetrol. Since 2023, the company has exported 27.4mn barrels of the product, generating $1.627bn in revenue, according to the report.
The latest shipment also reflects Colombia’s efforts to maximise value from refinery output while maintaining crude and refined-product exports as a core source of foreign exchange income. Ecopetrol remains Colombia’s largest company and one of the country’s main contributors to fiscal revenue through dividends, taxes and export earnings.
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