BOGOTA, March 5 (Reuters) - Colombia's majority

state-owned oil producer Ecopetrol is planning to raise

up to $2 billion in additional debt this year to fund

investments, and would consider seeking funds from banks and

capital markets, a top official said on Wednesday.

The debt would be used to fund inorganic investments, such

as the acquisition of new assets or projects.

Corporate Vice President of Finance Camilo Barco said in a

call with investors that the Ecopetrol board had authorised $1

billion in structural debt and a further $1 billion as a

temporary measure.

Barco said he was confident the investment plan would

accelerate in the second part of this year, and that "some

financing operations" would be necessary in order to carry out

the inorganic investment plan.

Chief Executive Ricardo Roa said Enel's Windpeshi

wind project, in the northern La Guajira department, was a

possible target, and that both companies had been working on a

potential deal.

Ecopetrol has set a $5.9 billion to $6.8 billion investment

plan for this year, funded mainly by its own cash reserves,

which ended 2024 at $4.4 billion.

The company also expects production between 740,000 and

750,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in 2025,

Rafael Guzman, vice president of hydrocarbons, said.

The company had an average production of 745,800 boepd last

year, the highest level in nine years.

The forecast incorporates production from its recent

acquisition of a 45% stake in the CPO-09 field from Repsol

, while also taking into account the field's

environmental risks, Guzman said.

Ecopetrol, whose shares are 88.5% held by the Colombian

government, earlier reported a nearly 22% annual net profit drop

in 2024, hit by a stronger U.S. dollar and lower international

oil prices.