Colombia's Ecopetrol posts 137 pct growth in net income

Bogota, Jul 29 (EFE).- Colombian state-owned oil company Ecopetrol announced that its net income climbed 137 percent in the second quarter relative to the same period of last year.

Net income came in at $971.4 million in the period from April to June, compared with $411.2 million in the second quarter of 2009, Ecopetrol said.

The company also reported that net income for the first half of 2010 rose 64.5 percent to $2.1 billion.

"Greater hydrocarbon production, a rise in crude exports, an increase in international oil prices and lower non-operating expenses" drove the growth in net income, Ecopetrol said in a press release.

In the first half of 2010, "production for the Ecopetrol Corporate Group averaged 589,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day, a 17.1 percent increase over the first half of 2009," the document said.

During those same six months, the company made organic investments totaling $1.93 billion, up 31 percent compared to the same period of 2009.

The report noted that 13 percent of that total, or $251 million, was allocated to expanding the infrastructure of the country's oil and multi-purpose pipelines, part of the company's goal of ensuring sufficient transport capacity for the larger production volumes.

The company said the 2011-2020 investment plan calls for investment of $80 billion, with $51 billion to come from cash generation during those 10 years, $23 billion from debt raising and $6 billion from a share offering.