CUESTIONARIO CHRIS SPAULDING

1. ¿Cuáles fueron las razones de Talisman para decidir ser socio de Ecopetrol en
Equión? ¿Qué recuerda del proceso de compra de los activos de BP en
Colombia? I joined Talisman in March, 2010 to go to Bogota as the Country
Manager for Talisman Colombia. However, I first spent 3 months in Calgary
working on a study to help the company develop a strategy for Talisman’s assets
in Colombia and how the company could grow in Colombia. We identified assets
that we would be interested in acquiring, one being BP Colombia. When BP
Colombia was put up for sale, we were ready to go. We had people who knew
something about the quality of the assets, that much was left to be done and
senior management was convinced that we should try to make the acquisition.

We strongly suspected that Ecopetrol wanted to buy BP Colombia as well and

we thought that competing against Ecopetrol would not be good strategy – rather
it would be much better if we could partner with Ecopetrol.

What I remember about the process of buying BP Colombia was how quickly the
deal came together and how closely Ecopetrol and Talisman people worked
together.

Richard Herbert and I managed to get a meeting with Javier Gutierrez and his
team (including Maria Victoria Riaño) at a conference in Cartagena. The meeting
occurred on a Friday afternoon -- June 20, 2010, I think. Richard and I stated that
Talisman wanted to try to buy BP Colombia; that we believed it was a high quality
asset with much left to be done; that we had people who knew about the asset –
and that we certainly believed that Ecopetrol would like to buy BP Colombia. We
proposed that Talisman and Ecopetrol partner to do the deal. Javier basically
said something like: “OK Tomamos nota.”

When we left the meeting I said to Richard: “Esa propuesta fue un globo de
plomo.” I truly thought we had failed to convince the Ecopetrol folks to partner
with Talisman.

However, late that day I sent Maria Victoria an e-mail saying things like:

 We thought it was an excellent meeting

 We think that an excellent partnership would be ECP/TLM
 We are ready to move
 I was going to be in Bogota the following week if Maria Victoria would like
to meet again.

I thought Maria Victoria was going respond with something like “OK. Tomo nota.”

To my surprise Maria Victoria asked to meet on the following Monday – which we

did…and on something like August 7th – less than 2 months since the first
 conversation between ECP and TLM the announcement was made that the
companies were jointly buying BP Colombia.

This was possible because of the teamwork between the two companies and the
clear desire to make the deal happen.

2. ¿Cuál fue el mayor desafío de ese negocio? Cuéntenos una anécdota que
recuerden esas dificultades.
As the Piedemonte Association Contract was going to end in 2020, Talisman only
had approximately 10 years to realize the full value of its holding in Equion. This
meant that the expansion on Piedemonte had to be placed on a fast track.

I remember the frustration and delays of obtaining the Environmental Permit for the
Piedemonte expansion due to the “epifitas”. I do not remember why the Ministry of
Environment was holding up the permit so that Equion could commence the project
--- and I did not even know what an epifita was – but I learned quickly.

3. ¿Qué tanto de BP y qué tanto de Talisman heredó Equión?

From BP the complete and total commitment to HSE – which BP Colombia showed
to BP the sort of HSE performance that is possible.

What did Equion inherit from Talisman? Actually, I think it was the reverse. I think
that Talisman (and my guess is Repsol) learned about true HSE commitment and
performance from Equion.

4. Usted fue miembro de la primera Junta Directiva de Equión. Desde esa

perspectiva ¿cómo evalúa el desempeño de Equión durante el tiempo que la
integró?
One of the reasons that Talisman was so interested in purchasing BP Colombia was
we knew that an excellent company existed to continue operating the assets who
would be able to expand the operation in a safe and profitable manner. Talisman
(and ECP) would not have to provide the human resources to what became Equion
in order to make the acquisition a successful for Talisman – and Equion fulfilled our
assessment in this regard to the fullest degree possible (leaving aside the offshore
experience).

5. También, cuéntenos acerca de la relación con el otro accionista, Ecopetrol.

¿Cómo era?
In any partnership – being corporate or personal -- there are good times and more
difficult times. What one is looking for is that the vast majority of the
times/experiences are good. This was certainly the case in the ECP/TLM
relationship. Most notable, both shareholders wanted to Equion to realize its full
potential principally via the expansion of Piedemonte in the fastest time safely and
reasonably possible. The support that both shareholders gave to Equion in this
regard was full.
6. ¿Qué sabe de los logros alcanzados por Equión en estos últimos años? ¿Qué
opinión tiene frente a ellos?

 Since leaving Colombia in 2015 it has been a difficult for me to stay abreast
of Equion. However, I do know that Equion has maintained its standards of
high quality operational performance in a safe, reliable manner

7. ¿Qué lecciones/aprendizajes ofrecería a ejecutivos que se encuentren en

situaciones similares de compra de activos y creación de nuevas compañías a
partir de ellas? ¿Cuáles son los factores críticos de éxito?

 Talisman partnership with ECP was successful to a large degree because the
company had a very good idea what it wanted to do strategically in Colombia
even prior to BP Colombia coming for sale. We also knew that if BP Colombia
came up for sale, that was an asset that we wanted to add to Talisman. So,
the strategically Talisman senior management was fully engaged in making
the acquisition.
 Then Talisman had a very good idea regarding the growth that we wanted to
see Equion achieve.
 Finally, our partner, Ecopetrol, had the same vision and desires for Equion.
So, we had excellent shareholder alignment.
 Finally, in Equion there were the excellent human resources committed to
efficiently and safely realizing the full value that the shareholders believed
and wanted from Equion.

8. Si pudiera cambiar algo del proceso vivido con Equión, ¿qué cambiaría?

 Not to drill the exploration well in the offshore block. Talisman did not believe
in the prospect and we allowed Equion to be rushed into the project before
Equion was ready to take on this project – when the company had no offshore
experience.
 Found a way to get agreement between ECP and TLM to expand Equion
beyond the Piedemonte/Cusiana.

In closing let me say that conclusion of BP Colombia/Equion as a going concern in

Colombia is the end of a truly successful and important chapter in Colombia’s oil and
gas industry. It is very difficult to over-state the importance and tremendous
contributions that BP Colombia/Equion made to BP, Talisman, Ecopetrol and
Colombia as a country.

The success and contributions of BP Colombia/Equion was possible for principally

one reason:
 The people that worked in BP Colombia/Equion through the years and
the commitment that they had to profitable, safe, sustainable operations
in all that was done.

It was my honor to be a small part of this story and I will forever cherish and look
fondly on my time working in Colombia and being a small a part of the Equion story
– not to mention the many friends that I made in the fiver years I was living in Bogota.

Un abrazo fuerte,

Chris Spaulding