 In 2003, the Colombian government restructured the Empresa Colombiana de Petróleos, in order to internationalize it and make the company more competitive in the framework of the global hydrocarbon industry.Decree 1760, dated 26 June 2003 modified the organic structure of the Empresa Colombiana de Petróleos and made it Ecopetrol S.A., a public stock-holding corporation, one hundred percent state-owned, associated with the Ministry of Mines and Energy, and governed by its by-laws contained in Notarized Document No.2931, dated 7 July 2003, issued by the Second Notary Public of the Bogotá D.C. Circle.