Ecopetrol S.A.

Good morning. My name is Karen, and I will be your operator today. Welcome to Ecopetrol's earnings conference call, in which we will discuss the main financial and operational results for the second quarter 2022. All lines have been muted. There will be a Q&A session at the end of the presentation. Before we begin, it is important to mention that the comments in this call by Ecopetrol's senior management include projections of the company's future performance. These projections do not constitute any commitment as to future results, nor do they take into account risks or uncertainties that could materialize. As a result, Ecopetrol assumes no responsibility in the event that future results are different from the projections shared on this conference call. This call will be led by Mr. Felipe Bayón, CEO of Ecopetrol, Alberto Consuegra, COO, Jaime Caballero, CFO, and Jamie Baez, Vice President of Low Emission Solutions. Thank you for your attention. Mr. Bayan, you may now begin your conference.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this conference call, where we will present the financial and operating results of the Equitron Group for the second quarter and the first half of the year 2022. I am extremely proud to announce that we continue to excel in our results, achieving the best-ever quarter as well as the best-ever semester in the history of Ecopetrol. During the first half of the year, our net income has already exceeded the net income of the 12 months in year 2021. These results are underpinned by the company's ability to, amongst others, return to production levels above 700,000 barrels per day, capture the benefits of competitive oil prices and spreads through our solid commercial strategy. reduce inflationary pressures thanks to cost efficiencies and mitigation measures, and a proactive management of our working capital. Let's move on to the next slide. During the second quarter of the year, we made important progress in the four pillars of our 2040 strategy, energy that transforms. In the first pillar, growing with the energy transition, I want to highlight the following aspects. The declaration of success for the Uchuba I exploration well that proves the potential for offshore gas in Colombia and supports the strategy to increase gas share in our total production. The return of a steady production level reaching close to 714,000 barrels oil equivalent per day for the month of July. The historical results of our downstream segment with a combined throughput for the quarter of 365,000 barrels per day a record gross margin of $29 per barrel, and an EBITDA of 3.7 trillion pesos underpinned by an excellent operational performance. We've expanded our agreement with Oxy in the Permian. This will allow us access to some 21,000 additional acres in the Delaware Basin. We've now completed the mechanical connection between the crude oil plants in the Cartagena Refinery, allowing us to very soon increased the throughput from 150,000 barrels per day to 200,000 barrels per day. In the transmission, roads, and telecommunication businesses, ESA was awarded with one of the largest transmission projects auctioned in recent years in Brazil throughout ESA CETEPI, which includes 1,139 kilometers to transport renewable energies with an annual income of $60 million dollars, and with an operational startup expected between 2026 and 2027. In the pillar of generating value through TESG, I want to highlight the following milestones. We continue to make progress in the low-carbon hydrogen strategies, having closed alliances with six expert international companies that will contribute towards the fulfillment of the hydrogen roadmap. Only a few weeks ago, we signed an agreement with Toyota to begin mobility tests in a green hydrogen-powered vehicle that will allow us to conduct a technical assessment and to analyze the potential of this application nationwide. To ensure an adequate organizational alignment and a greater effectiveness of our energy transition strategy, The former vice presidency of gas in Ecopetrol has now been transformed into the low emission solution vice presidency. Jamie Weiss will continue to lead these efforts. In the cutting edge knowledge pillar, I want to highlight the following. We've now captured $63 million of benefits during the first half of the year. with the implementation of the science, technology, and innovation portfolio, with the contribution of projects such as the integrated fields and the petrotechnical database, where we're using advanced geophysical technologies and artificial intelligence tools, allowing for more efficient well operation. We also use drilling technologies improving the consumption of injection water in the operations. Additionally, Ecopetrol, in partnership with Accenture, Shadow, and Microsoft, carried out the first 5G pilot test for industrial application in the Barranca Bermeja Refinery in the maintenance operations, where we used secure devices to provide real-time remote assistance from experts, ultimately reducing three days of the overall maintenance schedule and representing activity optimization of more than $1 million. Finally, in the competitive returns pillar of the strategy, and I know Jaime will develop on this later, I briefly want to highlight the following. CAPEX execution for the first half of the year was the highest during the last six years, focusing on the generation of value-added barrels and reserves that enable stability to the country in terms of energy security. A record dividend distribution in the history of Ecopetrol of 448 pesos per share. And the payment agreement with the Ministry of Finance of Colombia to settle FEPEC, the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund, and its balance as of the first quarter of 2022 which was 14.2 trillion pesos. I believe this is the most expedite settlement and payment process in the history of the fuel subsidy mechanism in the country. Let's move on to the next slide. The local and international macroeconomic environment has generated commercial, inflationary, and logistical challenges, which we have addressed through proactive strategy actions to ensure that our businesses remain on track. Commercially, the main challenge has been China's low levels of crude imports due to various successive COVID-19 outbreaks and its restrictive policy to contain the virus. As a mitigation mechanism, we have diversified ourselves into Europe, the U.S., and other Asian countries like India to maintain our realization at attractive levels even under the current competitive price scenarios. In terms of procurement, we have worked to reduce our exposure to short-term volatility within goods and services purchases, ensuring the contracting of REITs beyond 2022, the timely supply of inventories that are critical for projects and operations, and maintaining constant communications with our suppliers. In the cash flow management front, we've optimized working capital by accelerating the payments of the FEPEC or Stabilization Fund accounts receivable. Additionally, we're optimizing product inventories while ensuring the levels are the ones required to operate. Finally, in terms of competitiveness, we are continually searching for new efficiency initiatives that contribute to contain this inflation impact on the group's expense structure. Let's move on to the next slide. As we reach the first year since we integrated ESA into the Ecopetrol Group, the results and synergies witness the value it has provided to our shareholders. ESA continues its growth path with the current construction of 33 energy transmission projects that are in execution and that represent some 4,900 kilometers of transmission lines. Nine of these projects contribute directly to the energy transition by connecting unconventional renewable energy sources to the transmission network and thus improving the capacities of the network for future connection of other renewable projects. Particularly on the social dimension, ISA ranked third in the 2022 Private Social Investment Index that is run by Jaime Arteaga and Associados, due to its social and environmental investment strategy in Colombia, and climbing two positions versus the prior year. Now I want to give the floor to Jamie Baez, who will present the key results in the business line of low-emission solutions.

Thank you, Felipe. Last July, the Gas Vice Presidency was transformed into the Low Emission Solutions Vice Presidency, which integrates natural gas, biogas, LPG power, renewables, hydrogen, and CCUS. We are incorporating components into a new DNA, moving toward an energy solutions portfolio that responds to our 2040 strategy. Consolidating synergies with ESA in terms of electrical infrastructure, with CENIT to foster efficient logistics growth, and with Essentia, the Cartagena and Barranca Bermeja refineries in low hydrogen and new fuels production. This approach to clean energy systems leverages our growth as a diversified energy group to continue leading the way towards the energy transition in Colombia and in the region. Our portfolio includes, first, mature natural gas and LPG businesses in Colombia that are essential in ensuring the country's energy security and will open new commercial horizons. As part of the 2022 commercialization process, we submitted to the market enough available gas declarations not only to renew contracts expiring in 2022 and 2023, but also to spur new demand. Starting in Q3 of 2022, Ecopetrol will deliver an additional 10% of LPG to the market. equivalent to 4,800 tons per month, as a result of operational optimizations which will benefit more than 3.5 million Colombian families. Second, growing businesses of self-generated and conventional renewable energies that allow us to further decarbonize our operations. I would like to highlight the progress in the development and construction of two solar farms that would add around 49 megawatts of additional renewable capacity, as well as the beginning of construction of the solar farm in Providencia with a projected capacity of 1.8 megawatts, to support the island reconstruction in the wake of Hurricane Iota. The Castilla and San Fernando solar farms have saved more than 15,000 million Colombian pesos in energy costs and have eliminated over 22,000 tons of CO2 emissions since their incorporation into the energy mix in October of 2019 and 2021, respectively. Third, emerging opportunities in hydrogen CCUS and biogas. We made progress in two fronts, the maturing of two industrial scale hydrogen projects at our refineries based on the information gathered from the 50 kilowatts pilot that has been operating in Cartagena since March, and in the proof of concept to public transportation and light mobility that will be in place before the end of 2022. We also began five feasibility studies for underground CO2 storage in four basins in Colombia with an investment of $3.5 million. The results will be available in Q4 this year. I now give the floor to Alberto Consuegra, who will share our operating results for this quarter.