BOGOTA, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Colombia's majority state-owned oil company Ecopetrol (ECO.CN) , opens new tab on Tuesday reported a 17% fall in second-quarter net profit, citing market conditions.

Ecopetrol's net profit for the three months to June 30 stood at 3.38 trillion pesos ($830.9 million), the company said in a quarterly earnings report. First-half net profit fell 24% to 7.39 trillion pesos, versus 9.75 trillion pesos in the first six months of 2023.

"Ecopetrol faced a challenging environment, which remains impacted by various outside variables, such as the revaluation of the Colombian peso and inflationary pressures," Chief Executive Ricardo Roa said in the report.

Before Ecopetrol published its results, the company's share price closed down on Tuesday, dropping 2.08% to 2,110 Colombian pesos per share on the local stock market.

Regional peers in Mexico and Brazil both posted second-quarter losses for the three months through June.

Mexico's Pemex (PEMX.UL) last month reported a swing to a net loss of $14 billion, while Brazil's Petrobras (PGFB.UL) reported its first quarterly loss since the third quarter of 2020 - which came in at $470 million - due to a non-recurring tax charge.

The Bogota-based company's total sales for the quarter fell 4.9% to 32.63 trillion pesos during the April to June period, it said.

The company's second-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell 3.7% to 14.05 trillion pesos, from 14.6 trillion pesos in the year-earlier period.

The company's production in the second quarter rose by 4.1% to 758,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boed), driven by surging activity at Ecopetrol's operations in the U.S Permian Basin, where output rose 67% to 98,200 boed.

($1 = 4,063.26 Colombian pesos)

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https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/colombias-ecopetrol-posts-174-fall-q2-profit-2024-08-13/