I’d like to know if that’s that gas oil pipe is from Perveza [ph]. The 100% of the investments related to the recovery of that oil line gas line would be done by that or if you are foreseeing the participation of a corporate rule for the recovery of that gas pipeline. And a question about the midstream. There is a reduction in the quarterly cost, versus the fourth quarter of last year of the prior year in the cost of the barrels transported for 22.8%. I’d like to have an explanation. And that’s a reduction in dollars. I’d like to hear, your explanation about that reduction. And if you can remind us what part of the transport is in dollars and what part is in dollars, and if it’s the gas or pipelines or the oil pipelines or the poly pipelines, the ones that are indexed into dollars.
Thank you very much, and good luck for the rest of the year.
Ricardo Roa Barragan: Well, in relation to the subject of production, I would like to clarify the following. Usually, the production in Rubiales and in Castilla fall during the first quarter. And it’s more pronounced in Rubiales because of the closing of that occurs during the summertime. So what would we like to see? An increase in the production of Rubiales of Castilla in addition to the fields you mentioned. But you must remember that the national production is in those assets in Rubiales, Castilla, Chichimene, in CPO-09, and in Cano Sur. That’s in the big portion of our production. And we have to keep an increasing production there to counter arrest the natural declination, especially in the Piedmont fields where there’s a reduction or a declination in gas.
At the end of the year, we would be expecting a slight increase in Castilla, Chichimene, and Rubiales. And that together with the fact that the Permian will keep an outlook of production between 81,000 and 83,000 barrels for the year.
María Catalina Escobar Hoyos: Ricardo Roa, on the subject of gas, Andres, and good morning, and the possibility of importing from Venezuela. From three points of view. The first is to have enabled the platform, the legal and normative platform to do it. And we’re still holding discussions with OFAC about the permanent supply of information in relation to the request we made in November of 2022 to a fact to consider the decrease of the restrictions we have with Venezuela. The Ambassador of the U.S. in Colombia has told us that they are reviewing the subject. And secondly, to remind you that we have an agreement in effect from 2017 to 2027 where we have enabled between 340,000 cubic feet per day to be transported, connections related to the quality of gas and the price established.
And this agreement is in effect, and that is the mechanism or the legal vehicle to be able to once the restrictions are taken away, the one we’d be using now in relation to [indiscernible] and their news, they’d be able to deliver 50,000 cubic meters of gas per day. That’s the information they’ve given us, and we’ve been working with them on the activities of inspecting the gas oil line. We send it, went through it, and we have an estimated budget of between $35 billion and $40 billion to make this asset operational. The asset is owned by us and any activity or investment that would be needed is to be borne by them. We’ve had some manifestations of interest from the gas transporters of Colombia to our participation both in the repairs and obviously in the possibility of receiving the charge, from the use of that system if enabled within the country.
So we think that there’d be no restriction for one of them to be in charge of the repairs and the reading of that gas pipeline.
Hector Manosalva Rojas: This is Hector Manosalva. I’m the President of Cenit. I’d like to talk about the cost of transportation. The average cost of transportation for 2023 was more or less $3 per barrel. And for the last quarter of 2023, it was $3.75 mainly associated to the higher OpEx that we made for the repairing of the system, either because of geotechnical reasons or mechanical reasons. For the third quarter of 2024, the cost is of 2.99, I’m sorry associated to two main components. One, the exchange rate and two, lower OpEx costs because of lower needs of repairs in comparison to the last quarter of last year in relation to the fees where the tariffs of the oil pipelines are denominated in dollars. The ones of the polyducts are denominated in pesos. Thus, 80% of the revenues denominated in dollars for the segment and 20% in pesos. But in terms of cost, 84% of the costs are executed in pesos and 16% in dollars. Thank you.
Operator: Thank you. Katherine Ortiz is in line with a question. You may proceed.
Katherine Ortiz: Thank you. Good morning. I have two questions. The first one is related to the cost of raising. Even though that cost was impacted with — by the exchange rate in a significant amount, I’d like to know if at that level, if we exclude the effect that we might see forward in the exchange rate, we could reach a stability level of that cost, or if on the contrary, we might still see additional effects, inflationary or of any other type in that sense? That would be my first question. Then the second question is connected to the answer just given about the imports of gas from Venezuela. And it’s, I’d like to know or have clarity, if Ecopetrol would not add this intermediary in any aspect in the process, that won’t be completely done through external parties, and Ecopetrol would not intervene?
Alberto Consuegra Granger: Katherine, good morning, and thank you for your question. I am going to refer about the cost of the survey. We look at the monetary mass and specifically look at the outcome of the last quarter of last year. The cost of raising it was $20 this first quarter as a better result of $12 per barrel and of that survey. And what is that due to? It’s because we have an important level of production and also because we’ve been able to achieve certain efficiencies. We’re competing the level of the accumulated inflation. We’ve renewed contracts, and there’s an element that’s extremely important. It’s the stock exchange price of energy. And it’s, I think we said 25% of the cost of the survey. As the El Nino phenomenon decreases, the prices in the Energy Stock Exchange will reflect a better view for the rest of the year.
So that price in the Energy Stock Exchange will be extremely significant. What we’re trying to do is to maintain that monetary math flat and through efficiencies and of course managing the risks. But on our target we have a guidance of between $12 and $13 per barrel with the idea that we’ll be very close to the low range of $12 per barrel. And Katherine, I’d like to compliment by saying to compliment, Alberto, to try to illustrate the importance of our program of efficiencies and the control of costs. We have a program of efficiencies in the different areas of the company, and we’re trying to find efficiencies in COP 3 billion in 2024. During the first quarter of the year, we had efficiencies around COP 650,000 million. When you translate that specifically into the indicator of the serving cost, that serving cost of 12.1 that we’re seeing during the first quarter would be a cost of more or less $12.4 or $12.5 per barrel.
If we had not implemented that efficiency plan or saying it in a different way, we were able to avoid more or less between $0.30 and $0.40 in the cost of the survey. So I’d like you to keep that data in mind. It’s an example of how the efficiency plan is really setting or trying to stabilize the cost trend.
Ricardo Roa Barragan: This is Ricardo Roa, Katherine. Good morning. To clarify the subject of the eventual import of gas from Venezuela. Ecopetrol would be the one who has had entered into that commercial vehicle for some time already. And we might eventually do the import off the import through the [indiscernible]. And that’s why, I mentioned the elements. I said before that we have to have no restriction in order to the bio valise the flows of gas from Venezuela into Colombia, but the intermediary role would be an eventual scenario where Ecopetrol would yield the rights of that agreement to an operator or assign them to a commercialized road dealer. But that would be something that would also need a political willingness of the counterparty, in this case of [indiscernible].
It’s something we have not evaluated yet and we’re not considering yet. Because Ecopetrol, in its historical role is to guarantee the supply of gas into the country. And if the gas pipeline exists and if there’s a roadmap in having the gas pipeline already ready. That’s something we’ve been analyze and taking into account what we said before, provided that the conditions — the legal conditions and the restrictions of OFAC would allow us to develop that project.
Katherine Ortiz: Thank you very much.
Operator: The next question is from Ana Guasca from Corredores Davivienda. Ms. Guasca, you may ask.
Ana Guasca: Good morning. My question refers to the changes that we published recently from the senior management. I’d like to know what that process is like, if you have a date, and if you can tell us about the process of the selection given the conditions in the country. Thank you.
Ricardo Roa Barragan: Ana, good morning. Again, Riccardo Roa. First, I’d like to remind you that there is a policy of succession in Ecopetrol that we are complying with. There’s also a policy of a deputy positions, and they are in effect for those highly relevant position cyber changes that occur because of several reasons, beginning with the one of executives who believe that they have to close their journey in the company, others related to health reasons or others because of priorities in their own personal life that make them decide to see their positions, and we have to understand them. And in that respect, a company that has 7,553 employees is exposed to those dynamics. But in the succession policy, we are having people who fill 100% of the requirements of the profile to become deputies of [indiscernible] position.
