Energy Advisor

Tara Hariharan, managing director of global macro research at NWI Management LP: “Latin America currently produces about 8 percent of global oil supply, versus Russia at 12 percent, and a host of political and structural factors limit the region’s ability to increase output to substantially replace Russian oil. Latin America’s top producer, Brazil, is endowed with large offshore deep water deposits, but ramping up production there would be an expensive, protracted process. Mexico is already the United States’ second-largest source of crude oil imports, but its production is hamstrung by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s aim to reverse 2013 energy reforms and cap production—not to mention state oil company Pemex’s financial struggles. Venezuela boasts the world’s largest oil reserves, but U.S. sanctions have shrunk its production by four-fifths. The United States is thinking about easing Venezuelan sanctions, but output increases would require significant infrastructure investment…”