This business plan seeks to generate value, profitability and sustainability, and prepares Ecopetrol to capture the benefits derived from a potential increase in prices, the company said.

By 2020, at an average price of $50/bbl, estimated production would reach 760,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, equivalent to a 6% growth vis a vis 2016. At an average price of $70/bbl, production could reach 830,000 boe/d, or 16% over the current production.

In the past few months, Ecopetrol said that it has reinforced its capital discipline process by down-scaling its investment levels, directing resources to profitable projects and adopting controls to execute projects efficiently and within budget.

The 2020 business plan contemplates investments around $13 billion under an average price scenario of $50/bbl or $17 billion under a $70/bbl scenario.

Nearly 90% of the investments will be allocated to upstream, the main driver of the company’s future growth, Ecopetrol said.

This investment level reflects an ambitious development plan that seeks to reach CAPEX optimizations of up to 20% in the operation of all main assets and which translates into approximately $2 billion accumulated by 2020.

The plan includes a $11.5 billion investment in upstream, with a potential upsize in a better oil price environment.

After a period of sustained growth, the midstream and downstream will focus mainly in efficiency, asset maintenance and integrity through the investment of $1.5 billion.

Structurally, Ecopetrol has accomplished a cost reduction of $1.1 billion in comparison to 2014, the company said. Furthermore, it has divested non-strategic assets and has initiated the sale of minor fields through its Fields Round 2016 (Ronda de Campos 2016).

The new plan aims to consolidate the already achieved cost reductions and includes new opportunities for efficiencies which could generate up to $700 million on additional savings by 2020. Additionally, it contemplates asset divestments in a range of $700 million to $1 billion.