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Colombia's state oil company Ecopetrol said on Wednesday that it planned to take on $23 billion in debt and issue $6 billion in shares to help fund its 2011-2020 expansion plan.

Latin America's No. 4 oil producer has seen a dramatic increase in investment in its oil and mining sectors since a U.S.-backed military offensive under President Alvaro Uribe drove back leftist rebels.

The company -- which is 89.9 percent owned by the state -- said net earnings in the first half of 2010 rose 64.5 percent to 3.9 trillion pesos ($2.1 billion) compared with the same period last year.

In the second quarter, net earnings shot up 137 percent to 1.8 trillion pesos due to a rise in exports, higher global oil prices and less non-operating spending.

Ecopetrol's total production in the first half increased 17 percent to 589,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) versus the first half of 2009, it said.

Export value from its Colombian operations rose 121.1 percent in the first half to hit 10.4 trillion pesos.

Colombia's largest oil producer said it would fund its $80 billion 2011-2020 strategic plan by taking on $23 billion in debt and issuing $6 billion in shares or 9.9 percent of the company.

The remaining amount will come from its own resources.

The company said earlier this month it planned to invest $80 billion between 2011 and 2020 to meet with nearly 80 percent in exploration and production. [ID:nN14126096]

Ecopetrol said that the strategic plan would add 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent to reserves by 2020.

Investment in 2010's first half hit $1.933 billion, mainly in infrastructure such as oil pipelines.

It said that if current oil prices remain stable, it would "possibly" not be necessary to take on debt in the second half of the year to finance investments.

Story from Reuters
Reuters 07/29/2010

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