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1826317214530142208
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| author2 |
Fattouh, B
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Fattouh, B
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OXFORD
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| description |
<p>Latin America is once again on the radar of the international and regional oil and gas industry, service companies, and policy makers. Secular changes in the petroleum investment risk profile of major oil and gas hubs such as Russia, North Africa, West Africa, and the Middle East, limited access to acreage in the traditional producing areas, as well as the lack of new exploration successes outside the emerging provinces such as East Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, among others, have made Latin America an interesting place to re-visit. These circumstances have coincided with the North American unconventional boom and Mexico’s landmark reform that brought the Americas back onto the industry map again.</p> <p>Since the pre-salt discoveries in Brazil – which are underway to reach their first production milestone – were first announced in 2007, a new wave of diverse potential opportunities has emerged. These include: the giant unconventional resources in Argentina, deepwater in Uruguay, frontier deepwater and unconventionals in Colombia, and the opening of already discovered reserves and exploration opportunities in deepwater, shallow water, onshore and unconventionals in Mexico.</p> <p>Yet despite substantial reserves and yet to be found hydrocarbons, Latin America is increasingly becoming dependent on imports of gas and refined products. In fact, the energy trade balance of major oil producers/exporters such as Venezuela and Mexico no longer looks that favourable, whilst Brazil continues to review its domestic pricing policy after having lost its self-sufficiency in the midst of a challenging macroeconomic environment. Structural issues are likely to prevent any reversal of these trends in the years to come, unless radical reforms are enacted, as in the case of Mexico.</p> <p>The energy-related relationship of the region with the world, and especially with the USA and the international industry, is being re-evaluated as its profile gradually shifts from that of an exporter of commodities towards one of an importer of petroleum products.</p> <p>The recent drop in oil prices is generating anxiety in the producing countries in the region due to the major destabilizing effects that could result on their fiscal balances. The prospect that prices may settle at much lower levels than were seen in the last decade is generating a wave of measures to improve the investment climate and consequently mitigate the impact of lower revenues: on the one hand, increased exploration and development would lead to higher production and, on the other hand, private investment may substitute the substantial investments needed every year in the producing countries with large NOCs. The problem is that lower oil revenues also affect industry, forcing operators to review their investment portfolios to focus on the best regimes and geological prospects.</p> <p>The region’s recent positive developments are taking place against a background where a large number of countries in the region (including Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, French Guyana, and Suriname) have fallen out of favour with oil and gas investors, in some cases for a number of years. Even Colombia and Peru, two of the regional stars of the last decade, will need to step up their efforts to maintain their attractiveness.</p> <p>Unlike the major international oil and gas industry hubs and hydrocarbon-rich regions of Russia, Africa, and the Middle East, Latin America traditionally has not been able to attract long-term capital or seen many sustained full-cycle developments in oil and gas (in contrast to the situation in mining, where activity has been stable). Latin American NOCs, a handful of medium-sized regional players, and newly formed companies for specific opportunities clearly dominate the landscape and have seen more success than any industry group.</p> <p>In this issue of the Forum we cover several regional themes that will shed some light onto the challenges and opportunities for the region, as well as some specific country themes.</p>
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2024-03-07T00:45:13Z
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Journal article
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oxford-uuid:846a1796-34ac-4901-900d-5bc967bcafa0
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University of Oxford
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English
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2025-02-19T04:34:56Z
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2015
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Oxford Institute for Energy Studies
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dspace
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oxford-uuid:846a1796-34ac-4901-900d-5bc967bcafa02025-01-27T08:56:09ZIntroduction - Oxford Energy Forum – Issue, 98Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:846a1796-34ac-4901-900d-5bc967bcafa0EnglishORA Deposit Oxford Institute for Energy Studies2015Fattouh, B<p>Latin America is once again on the radar of the international and regional oil and gas industry, service companies, and policy makers. Secular changes in the petroleum investment risk profile of major oil and gas hubs such as Russia, North Africa, West Africa, and the Middle East, limited access to acreage in the traditional producing areas, as well as the lack of new exploration successes outside the emerging provinces such as East Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean, among others, have made Latin America an interesting place to re-visit. These circumstances have coincided with the North American unconventional boom and Mexico’s landmark reform that brought the Americas back onto the industry map again.</p> <p>Since the pre-salt discoveries in Brazil – which are underway to reach their first production milestone – were first announced in 2007, a new wave of diverse potential opportunities has emerged. These include: the giant unconventional resources in Argentina, deepwater in Uruguay, frontier deepwater and unconventionals in Colombia, and the opening of already discovered reserves and exploration opportunities in deepwater, shallow water, onshore and unconventionals in Mexico.</p> <p>Yet despite substantial reserves and yet to be found hydrocarbons, Latin America is increasingly becoming dependent on imports of gas and refined products. In fact, the energy trade balance of major oil producers/exporters such as Venezuela and Mexico no longer looks that favourable, whilst Brazil continues to review its domestic pricing policy after having lost its self-sufficiency in the midst of a challenging macroeconomic environment. Structural issues are likely to prevent any reversal of these trends in the years to come, unless radical reforms are enacted, as in the case of Mexico.</p> <p>The energy-related relationship of the region with the world, and especially with the USA and the international industry, is being re-evaluated as its profile gradually shifts from that of an exporter of commodities towards one of an importer of petroleum products.</p> <p>The recent drop in oil prices is generating anxiety in the producing countries in the region due to the major destabilizing effects that could result on their fiscal balances. The prospect that prices may settle at much lower levels than were seen in the last decade is generating a wave of measures to improve the investment climate and consequently mitigate the impact of lower revenues: on the one hand, increased exploration and development would lead to higher production and, on the other hand, private investment may substitute the substantial investments needed every year in the producing countries with large NOCs. The problem is that lower oil revenues also affect industry, forcing operators to review their investment portfolios to focus on the best regimes and geological prospects.</p> <p>The region’s recent positive developments are taking place against a background where a large number of countries in the region (including Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, French Guyana, and Suriname) have fallen out of favour with oil and gas investors, in some cases for a number of years. Even Colombia and Peru, two of the regional stars of the last decade, will need to step up their efforts to maintain their attractiveness.</p> <p>Unlike the major international oil and gas industry hubs and hydrocarbon-rich regions of Russia, Africa, and the Middle East, Latin America traditionally has not been able to attract long-term capital or seen many sustained full-cycle developments in oil and gas (in contrast to the situation in mining, where activity has been stable). Latin American NOCs, a handful of medium-sized regional players, and newly formed companies for specific opportunities clearly dominate the landscape and have seen more success than any industry group.</p> <p>In this issue of the Forum we cover several regional themes that will shed some light onto the challenges and opportunities for the region, as well as some specific country themes.</p>
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Introduction - Oxford Energy Forum – Issue, 98
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Introduction - Oxford Energy Forum – Issue, 98
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| title_full |
Introduction - Oxford Energy Forum – Issue, 98
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| title_fullStr |
Introduction - Oxford Energy Forum – Issue, 98
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| title_full_unstemmed |
Introduction - Oxford Energy Forum – Issue, 98
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| title_short |
Introduction - Oxford Energy Forum – Issue, 98
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| title_sort |
introduction oxford energy forum issue 98
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