Record Roll-On/Roll-Off Volumes and ODL Throughput Lift Frontera’s Adjusted EBITDA 18%

Puerto Bahía set a cargo record but its operating income fell

Frontera Energy Corporation (TSX: FEC) (OTCQX: FECCF), the Calgary-based owner of 99.97% of Sociedad Portuaria Puerto Bahía and a 35% stake in Oleoducto de los Llanos Orientales S.A. (ODL), reported on August 14, 2026, adjusted EBITDA of $30.5 million USD for the second quarter of 2026, an 18% increase over the same period a year earlier. It was the company’s first set of results since it completed the sale of its Colombian exploration and production business on June 1, 2026.

Puerto Bahía describes itself as a multipurpose terminal in the Bay of Cartagena, Colombia, with a 20-meter natural draft, 155 hectares for operations and expansion, and separate liquid and dry cargo terminals. Frontera’s release describes ODL as a midstream asset serving the Llanos basin, which it says holds roughly 70% of Colombia’s proven crude oil reserves, and describes Frontera’s portfolio as anchored by the two assets.

Total revenues and other income reached $31.3 million USD, up from $25.5 million USD in the second quarter of 2025 and $26.8 million USD in the first quarter of 2026. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 63%, against 62% a year earlier. Frontera said adjusted EBITDA was driven by performance at the general cargo terminal at Puerto Bahía, which it calls the dry port, and by higher volumes handled at ODL. Chief Executive Officer Orlando Cabrales said Frontera is now working toward first gas in early 2027 at Puerto Bahía’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification project, which the company is developing with Ecopetrol S.A. (BVC: ECOPETROL) (NYSE: EC).

Frontera’s adjusted EBITDA rose 18% year over year in the second quarter. (Chart: Finance Colombia)

Rolling Cargo Outgrows Barrels at Puerto Bahía

Frontera attributed the increase in port revenue to performance in the general cargo terminal, where roll-on/roll-off volumes grew, and to higher liquids volumes driven by higher throughput from Ecopetrol. The general cargo terminal handled 48,074 roll-on/roll-off units, which Cabrales called a record, a 70% increase over the 28,283 units moved a year earlier and 26% more than the first quarter. April 2026 alone set a single-month record of 17,200 units. General cargo terminal revenue rose 87%, to $8.1 million USD from $4.3 million USD.

Puerto Bahía handled 48,074 roll-on/roll-off units in the second quarter of 2026. (Chart: Finance Colombia)

General cargo overtook liquids as Puerto Bahía’s larger revenue line. (Chart: Finance Colombia)

Liquids terminal revenue was lower than a year earlier, at $6.5 million USD against $6.8 million USD. Throughput reached 39,889 barrels per day, up 8% from 36,937 in the first quarter but down 25% from 53,280 a year earlier. Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) volumes reached 4,000 tons in the quarter against 1,200 tons in the first quarter; Frontera reports no LPG volumes in the year-earlier quarter. Port revenue totaled $14.6 million USD, up 29% from $11.3 million USD a year earlier, of which $60,000 USD came from Guyana and the rest from the Colombia terminals.

Container traffic declined to 3,277 TEUs, or 20-foot equivalent units, from 3,993 a year earlier. Break bulk volumes, which Frontera reports in tons or cubic meters, came in at 11,199 against 25,216 in the first quarter and 7,538 a year earlier.

The port’s operating income fell 44%, to $1.0 million USD from $1.8 million USD a year earlier. In Puerto Bahía’s own income statement, revenue rose to $14.6 million USD from $11.2 million USD while costs rose to $8.8 million USD from $6.1 million USD, an increase Frontera attributed to the higher general cargo volumes and the start-up of LPG operations. Depreciation, amortization and impairment expense rose to $2.2 million USD from $1.7 million USD, and restructuring, severance and other costs rose to $1.4 million USD from $607,000 USD. Puerto Bahía’s own EBITDA, which Frontera reports separately from adjusted EBITDA, was $4.6 million USD against $4.1 million USD a year earlier.

ODL Throughput Rises as the Tariff Eases

ODL transported an average of 239,333 barrels per day during the quarter, up 1.5% from a year earlier. ODL states on its own website that the system’s effective transport capacity averages 245,000 barrels per day for crude with viscosity up to 1,500 centistokes.

ODL throughput reached 98% of the capacity the pipeline publishes for the system. (Chart: Finance Colombia)

The pipeline, in operation since 2009, runs a 235-kilometer main line from the Rubiales Station in Puerto Gaitán, Meta, to the Monterrey Station in Casanare, plus a 25-kilometer branch from El Viento to Cusiana and a 19-kilometer Caño Sur interconnection, for 279 kilometers in total. ODL says the system transports 30% of the crude oil produced in Colombia.

ODL recorded net income of $47.5 million USD for the quarter, of which $16.6 million USD was attributable to Frontera, and EBITDA of $77.1 million USD against $69.3 million USD a year earlier. The average transportation tariff eased to $4.59 USD per barrel from $4.73 USD a year earlier. In Frontera’s adjusted EBITDA reconciliation, the line representing its 35% participation in ODL’s revenue, operating costs and general and administrative expenses rose to $27.0 million USD from $24.3 million USD.

The two measures Frontera reports for its assets are not additive. (Chart: Finance Colombia)

ODL declared net dividends of $64.7 million USD to Frontera Pipeline Investment AG during 2026, against $52.9 million USD in 2025, plus an additional $5.2 million USD return of capital in the second quarter. Frontera has received $26.8 million USD of that in cash so far this year.

Headline Profit Comes From the Business Frontera Sold

Frontera booked net income attributable to equity holders of $29.0 million USD for the quarter. Continuing operations produced a net loss of $4.0 million USD, or $0.06 USD per diluted share. The profit came from the discontinued exploration and production assets sold to Parex Resources Inc. (TSX: PXT), which contributed $33.0 million USD of income, or $0.47 USD per diluted share. Operating income from continuing operations was positive at $6.1 million USD, after absorbing $7.5 million USD of impairment expense and $4.1 million USD of restructuring, severance and other costs.

Because those assets are now classified as discontinued, Frontera re-presented its 2025 continuing-operations figures. On that basis it reported a $439.2 million USD net loss from continuing operations in the second quarter of 2025, and an operating loss of $427.9 million USD that included a $432.2 million USD impairment charge and $9.4 million USD of restructuring, severance and other costs.

Frontera closed the quarter with $56.3 million USD in cash and equivalents, $170.5 million USD in total debt and lease liabilities, and net debt of $114.2 million USD. Net debt to trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA fell to 0.98 times from 1.33 times at the end of March 2026. Trailing 12-month infrastructure distributable cash flow was $78.8 million USD, up from $51.4 million USD a quarter earlier, a difference driven by the timing of ODL distribution payments between periods, the company said.

On June 1, 2026, Frontera said its infrastructure business was expected to generate $110 million USD to $120 million USD of adjusted EBITDA in 2026, alongside $80 million USD to $85 million USD of distributable free cash flow. First-half adjusted EBITDA was $59.0 million USD.

Frontera Targets First Gas in Early 2027

Puerto Bahía has signed a take-or-pay agreement with Ecopetrol covering a seven-year service term that begins when operations start, and has secured floating storage and regasification capacity from US-based Excelerate Energy, Inc. (NYSE: EE). LNG Prime reported on August 6, 2026, that Excelerate had confirmed a seven-year charter with a Frontera subsidiary for a floating storage and regasification unit at an LNG import terminal under development in Colombia.

Ecopetrol announced on May 25, 2026, that it and Sociedad Portuaria Puerto Bahía were entering the execution phase after the Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura (National Infrastructure Agency, ANI) issued a favorable opinion on a non-substantial modification to the port concession and the Autoridad Nacional de Licencias Ambientales (National Environmental Licensing Authority, ANLA) approved a minor environmental change. In that announcement, Ecopetrol said the work would ensure entry into operation in December 2026, and that the company would then be able to contribute an initial supply of up to 300 GBTUD, or gigaBTU per day, to Colombia’s gas balance.

Bayron Triana, then Ecopetrol’s vice president of energies for the transition, said in that announcement, translated from Spanish:

With these port and environmental approvals fully enabling the infrastructure, we are beginning the execution phase of a project that is strategic for the country, aimed at strengthening energy security and the reliability of natural gas supply in Colombia, particularly during the most critical stage of the El Niño phenomenon.

Triana, whose title El Tiempo gives as executive vice president of energies for the transition, resigned voluntarily effective July 31, 2026, the newspaper reported. Ernesto Alfonso Gómez, general manager of refining, was to take over the vice presidency on an acting basis on August 1, 2026, until a permanent appointment is made, El Tiempo reported.

Valora Analitik reported the same day that the floating unit had not yet been contracted and might not arrive until late 2026 or during 2027, that imported gas would begin entering the system after December 2026 rather than before it, and that Puerto Bahía would be Colombia’s second regasification plant after Sociedad Portuaria El Cayao (SPEC), a subsidiary of Promigas (BVC: PROMIGAS).

Colombia’s proven natural gas reserves stood at 1,717 billion cubic feet at the end of 2025, a 54% decline from 2018, with a reserves-to-production ratio of 5.9 years and a negative reserve replacement rate, according to the Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos (National Hydrocarbons Agency, ANH) reserves report reviewed in Finance Colombia’s July 2026 analysis of the reserves collapse.

What the Parex Sale Returned to Shareholders

Parex closed its purchase of Frontera International Holdings B.V. on June 1, 2026. The subsidiary held the Colombian exploration and production assets, a reverse osmosis water treatment facility and a palm oil plantation. Aggregate consideration was $750 million USD, comprising $500 million USD in upfront cash, $225 million USD of assumed net debt and a $25 million USD payment contingent on an extension of the Quifa contract with Ecopetrol. Shareholders approved the arrangement on April 30, 2026, as Finance Colombia reported in May 2026.

Frontera distributed $8.34 CAD per share, roughly $590 million CAD or $430 million USD, to holders of record on June 12, 2026, paid June 23, 2026. It retained $64 million USD, allocating $25 million USD to reducing debt and other liabilities and $39 million USD to growth projects at Puerto Bahía. Chairman Gabriel de Alba said the outcome “reflects a multi-year effort to simplify the Company, crystallize value and establish a stronger foundation for its next phase.”

Management is scheduled to discuss the results with analysts and investors on a conference call on August 18, 2026, at 9 a.m. Eastern time.

Headline photo: A roll-on/roll-off vehicle carrier is loaded at Puerto Bahía’s general cargo terminal in Cartagena. (Photo courtesy Puerto Bahía)