THE TOWERING figure of Ecopetrol president Alberto Calderon Zuleta, 40, has been making a splash on the oil scene in recent months.
Appointed top man of Colombia's state oil company in November, Calderon inherited an ambitious programme intended to bring new investments to a stagnant upstream sector. This investment push dates back to 1999 when oil prices were spiralling downwards and Colombia's worsening security situation brought upstream contracting to a standstill. Calderon's predecessor, Carlos Rodado, warned that the country risked becoming a net oil importer unless it found a way to kick-start investments. His solution was to reform aggressively contracting conditions, offering more generous terms to the private sector including a 70% share in production after recouping invest- ments. Rodado introduced the Ronda 2000 licensing pro-gramme, consisting of 12 exploration blocks and 15 incremental production projects, but was unceremoniously forced out when a difference of opinion with Mines and Energy Minister Luiz Carlos Valenzuela got personal. Calderon was the Finance Ministry's public credit chief when he got the call to head Ecopetrol. He has since been quick to stamp his own personality on the contracting process. Bringing a philosophy that investors should be listened to if they are persuaded to part with their money, Calderon has made flexibility a watchword. Technical proposals for each block are now arrived at in a consensus-building process in workshops and talks with interested parties, and bidders are freer to pick and choose. The process will conclude with a simplified competitive bidding process in September. Calderon was educated at Yale and added a PhD in Economics to his Masters degrees in Philosophy and Economics in 1995. He says his economist's instinct helps him detect the conditions in which competition thrives. It is important to hear what the companies have to say and allow them all to work with as much information as possible, Calderon states. His approach appears to be bearing fruit. The number of association contracts signed this year has jumped to 18 and Ecopetrol has received 47 technical proposals for 21 of the Ronda 2000 blocks. The Ecopetrol president is at pains to point out that he has no illusions about the problems facing his country. Colombia is strongly prospective but weak on security, he says. This means we had to make terms more attractive to keep the country competitive. But he also stresses that Colombia's notorious problems with guerrilla attacks have so far proven manageable. Companies of all sizes have shown that they are able to operate successfully here, he says, listing the Cano Limon pipeline as the most notorious example. With total throughput of 950 million barrels, the 2 million barrels spilled... is a disaster from an ecological point of view but is not so financially. Calderon is aware that the declining production profile on established fields means Colombia has to move fast. However, he tries to be realistic in his targets, stating that the present contracting push aims to keep average production above 850,000 barrels per day through 2010 compared with 710,000 bpd at present. He points out that all the major companies operating in Colombia are expanding. He cites projects like BP Amoco's contract on the Niscota block and Occidental Petroleum's plans for Samore, while Petrobras has focused on Colombia for a major upstream push testified by a fortuitously timed discovery at Boqueron. A similar revamping of the royalties and prices formulae may be in the pipeline for the gas sector. We have to be very aggressive over the next five years to actively develop supply and demand, Calderon states. He sees his background as an economist as something of an emerging trend for the sector, noting that the presidents of Mexico's Pemex and Brazil's Petrobras have emerged from the financial sector. It is by paying attention to profit margins that we can best attract partners and make our contribution to the national budget, he says. Calderon has some earlier experience of the energy sector after a stint managing Bogota's biggest energy utility. However, he admits that he has taken a crash course in geology, identifying Conoco veteran Tomas Villamil -- now Ecopetrol's vice president for exploration -- as a wonderful teacher . He confesses that he has found the oil sector surprisingly subject to fashions, such as the current trend for deep-water projects. The industry is not always as rational as an economist might like, but it is full of great characters and I like the sense of adventure. Calderon's personable nature and convincing powers of argument may play an important role in winning over cautious investors. Ecopetrol employees are happy to testify to the former quality, contrasting his open-doors policy and team-building approach with the more secretive style of his predecessor. He also places a lot of emphasis on developing strong relations and trust, citing the latter as a quality he admires in Anglo-Saxon business culture. The Ecopetrol president defends his status as a technocrat despite entering the political arena at the highest level. He was campaign manager for Ernesto Samper's running mate Humberto De La Calle in 1994 but stayed well clear of the funding allegations that later brought Samper down. He later made his way into the government of Andres Pastrana, taking on the public-credit role prior to his latest appointment.
