The recent oil price collapse, combined with the economic contraction resulting from measures to fight the global Covid-19 pandemic, will have extensive and largely unforetold impacts for Latin American energy markets and beyond. These implications include cuts to investment and delays to ongoing projects in both oil & gas and renewable energy, fiscal and broader economic constraints, and legal disputes, said panelists during a webinar held on April 1.
Political changes are shaping the outlook in many of South America’s smaller and emerging oil and gas producers, including Guyana, Suriname, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. At a webinar co-hosted by the Inter-American Dialogue and the National Capital Area Chapter of the United States Association for Energy Economics (NCAC-USAEE), panelists discussed how political developments and the oil price decline are likely to impact producers in the region.
Venezuela’s oil industry has been in decline for years due to mismanagement and lack of investment. But this year, the industry’s problems seem to have multiplied as a result of the sharp decline in global oil prices.