OREANDA-NEWS. Ecopetrol S.A. (BVC: Ecopetrol, NYSE: EC; TSX: ECP) announced that the Superintendence of Industry and Trade of Colombia has granted a patent for a technology that makes possible to produce biofuels by refining vegetable oils and heavy oil fractions (such as gas oil) in a single process.

This development, called "Process for Hydrotreating Vegetable Oil Mixed with Heavy Oil Fractions," is the third patent related to biofuels that the company has received, together with Biocetano® and Bioparaffins. The process, which now enjoys this exclusive right, leverages refineries’ installed capacity, by co-processing natural vegetable oil and heavy fractions from the refining process.

The term of this patent is 20 years from December 2009 and it is the eighth patent granted to the company in 2013.

Ecopetrol is Colombia’s largest integrated oil & gas company, where it accounts for 60% of total production. It is one of the top 50 oil companies in the world and the fourth largest oil company in Latin America. The Company is also involved in exploration and production activities in Brazil, Peru and the United States Gulf Coast, and owns the main refineries in Colombia, most of the network of oil and multiple purpose pipelines in the country, petrochemical plants, and is entering into the biofuels business.