Analysis

Venezuela’s Oil Crisis Could Still Get Worse

Could Venezuela’s oil production decline even more steeply? Three evolving developments will largely determine the answer: whether creditors can seize assets in compensation for default, whether large numbers of oil workers continue to abandon their jobs, and whether the United States and other countries impose additional sanctions.

Lisa Viscidi, Nate Graham

Articles & Op-Eds ˙ ˙ World Politics Review

Can Mexico Run on Clean Energy?

President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador can capitalize on Mexico’s enormous renewable energy potential and make Mexico a leader in the fight against climate change. Although his platform offers some promising proposals, he will have to maneuver through several major obstacles.

Lisa Viscidi, Nate Graham

Articles & Op-Eds ˙ ˙ The New York Times

Video

Energy Policy in Brazil: What’s Next for Upstream, Refining and LNG?

The Brazilian oil & gas industry is going through its “largest transformation ever,” said Décio Oddone, Director-General for the Brazilian National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) at an event organized by the Inter-American Dialogue on June 28th.

Nate Graham, Daniela Vayas

Event Summaries ˙

CSIS Video

Oil and Politics in Latin America

In a conversation with CSIS, Lisa Viscidi explains the potential implications of this year’s elections in Latin America’s top oil producing countries. Political changes in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela will affect oil output, with effects felt both domestically and in the United States.

Lisa Viscidi, Richard Miles

Interviews ˙ ˙ Center for Strategic & International Studies

Mexico’s Renewable Energy Future

Improving grid management, expanding fiscal incentives for renewable technologies, and improving the land consultation process will open the door to the large Mexican renewable energy market.

Lisa Viscidi

Reports ˙ ˙ Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

LNG in the Americas

The next few years will see a major shift in the hemispheric natural gas trade, as increased US LNG exports increasingly displace volumes from other exporters.

Lisa Viscidi, Alex Wood, Jason Fargo

Reports ˙ ˙ Download Report

Video

Neuquén Governor Highlights Challenges and Opportunities to Developing Vaca Muerta

The government of Neuquén—Argentina’s top oil and gas producing province and home to the country’s huge shale play Vaca Muerta—is implementing a detailed plan to eliminate barriers to hydrocarbon development, Governor Omar Gutierrez said at an Inter-American Dialogue panel discussion.  This includes facilitating equipment imports by removing customs tariffs, gradually eliminating consumer subsidies for natural gas, and signing a new labor agreement between the provincial government and labor unions.

Zuleyma Alvarez

Event Summaries ˙

Investment in Latin American Oil and Renewables Likely to Grow

IFLR speaks with Lisa Viscidi, director of the Energy, Climate Change and Extractive Industries program at the Inter-American Dialogue. Viscidi analyses recent developments in Latin America’s energy markets, particularly in relation to broadsweep energy market reforms in Brazil and Mexico.

Lisa Viscidi

Interviews ˙ ˙ International Financial Law Review

Extractive Industries and Environmental Regulation in Post-Conflict Colombia

A new report by the Inter-American Dialogue analyzes the challenges to environmentally and socially sustainable development of the oil and mining sectors in Colombia and raises important questions for policymakers, such as where extractive industries should be permitted to operate, who should be responsible for oversight and how to make operations more environmentally sustainable.

Lorenzo Morales

Reports ˙

The Energy Solution Latin America Needs

If the region increases renewables to 80% of the electricity matrix and expands integration, countries can save billions of dollars in investments, avoid blackouts and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, argue Lisa Viscidi and Ariel Yépez.

Lisa Viscidi, Rigoberto Ariel Yépez-García

Articles & Op-Eds ˙ ˙ The New York Times

Prospects for expanding US natural gas exports to Latin America

Energy continues to be a bright spot in the US-Latin America relationship and new developments, like an uptick in US LNG exports, offer opportunities to increase energy security and cooperation across the Western Hemisphere.

Rebecca O’Connor

Event Summaries ˙

Competitividad del sector petrolero en América Latina

El 29 de noviembre Lisa Viscidi, la directora del Programa de Energía, Cambio Climático e Industrias Extractivas, impartió una presentación en un evento de COMEXI en la Ciudad de México sobre la competitividad del sector petrolero en América Latina. 

Event Summaries ˙

The Energy of Transportation: A Focus on Latin American Urban Transportation

Addressing Latin America’s transportation challenges requires an integrated approach that includes stemming the growth in demand for private vehicles through the improvement of public transportation systems and non-motorized forms of transport; raising the levels of fuel efficiency and fuel quality; and diversifying fuel sources.

Lisa Viscidi, Rebecca O’Connor

Books ˙ ˙ The Energy of Transportation: A Focus on Latin American Urban Transportation

Peace in Colombia’s Countryside? First, Turn On the Lights.

The less than 3 percent of Colombia’s population that lacks electricity lives mainly in areas of the country that have long been controlled by the FARC and other armed groups, such as Chocó in the Pacific, La Guajira on the Caribbean coast, and Putumayo in the Amazon. Not coincidentally, Colombians without access to electricity also have higher rates of poverty, fewer basic public services, and lower education levels than the rest of the country.

Lisa Viscidi

Articles & Op-Eds ˙ ˙ Peace in Colombia's Countryside? First, Turn On the Lights.