OREANDA-NEWS. Ecopetrol S.A. (BVC: ECOPETROL; NYSE: EC; TSX: ECP) reports that the Colombian Industry and Trade Superintendence granted an invention patent to a technology to allow for producing Biocetano®. Biocetano es a biofuel (renewable diesel) directly processed in the refinery plants through additions of hydrogen to raw palm oil.

The patent is applicable to the Enhanced method to obtain diesel from renewable sources by controlling the unsaturation control level and is effective as of 9 august 2011 until 9 August 2031.

This is the third patent granted to the Company in 2014 and adds up to the 58 patents already granted to Ecopetrol in several countries (Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil, United States, Mexico, China, Peru, Nigeria, Russia and Colombia).

Ecopetrol is Colombia's largest integrated oil & gas company, where it accounts for more than 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 refinery in Colombia, most of the network of oil and multiple purpose pipelines in the country, petrochemical plants, and an increasing participation in biofuels.