State-controlled Ecopetrol reported a 14% year-on-year reduction in proven reserves through December 31, a decrease that reflects three years of declining oil field investment in Colombia’s oil patch, it said Tuesday. Ecopetrol pegged year-end 1P reserves at 1.598 billion barrels, down 14% from 1.849 billion barrels at the end of 2015. The reserves were calculated using US Securities and Exchange Commission-approved standards by independent firms Ryder Scott Co. and DeGolyer & MacNaughton. Ecoptrol said the decrease was due to the “pronounced fall in oil prices” in 2016 that made a significant percentage of the company’s previously reported reserves uneconomical to produce. Ecopetrol accounts for more than three quarters of Colombia’s crude and natural gas reserves and output. The SEC price used to value Ecopetrol’s reserves in 2016 was $44.49/b, down from $55.57/b in 2015, a 20% decline. Ecopetrol estimated that the price decrease was responsible for the loss of […]