Colombia's Ecopetrol reports losses of $1.2B

Colombian state-run oil company Ecopetrol reported losses of $1.23 billion in 2015, driven largely by low crude prices on the international market. Ecopetrol said in a statement that it would not be handing out dividends to its shareholders as a result of the losses.

The company's profits for 2015 "were affected principally by the international price of crude and by the application of international accounting standards," Ecopetrol said. These new standards meant that a "line-by-line" comparison cannot be made with profits and losses of previous years, the company said. Ecopetrol President Juan Carlos Echeverry said 2015 was "one of the most challenging years for the oil industry," and that his company had to make "profound adjustments in the way it operates to be more efficient and survive the lower crude prices."

Ecopetrol also endured attacks on the oil infrastructure - mainly pipelines - by guerillas, flooding triggered by the Nino weather phenomenon, the temporary closure of the border with Venezuela and the devaluation of the Colombian peso, Echeverry said.