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Energy Program Director Lisa Viscidi spoke with CGTN about US sanctions on Venezuela and the effects they are having, both in terms of raising the pressure on Nicolás Maduro and heightening the risk of deepening the country’s humanitarian crisis.
Even if Juan Guaido or another opposition figure finally takes the reins and starts fixing the oil sector in Venezuela, it will take years before oil exports can provide the economic boost needed to pull the nation out of the morass. Venezuela’s oil industry has been severely damaged, and there are questions about the long-term economic viability of its oil fields. Venezuelans will likely be disappointed with the pace of the economic turnaround under any new government—a risk that poses a real threat to political stability. Expectations ought to be tempered.
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New leaders in Mexico and Brazil may mean big changes to their respective energy sectors. Lisa Viscidi tells Richard Miles of CSIS that a Mexican delay on offshore bidding could have a major impact, but that Brazil is likely to maintain the status quo. Venezuela could take years to recover production once it emerges from its current crisis, given the massive investment required to reverse declining oil output.
Mexico’s 2013 energy reform has led to pledges of almost $200 billion of private investment and renewable power auctions garnering bids to provide electricity at record-low prices. The Mexican government should continue to build on the successes of the reform, César Hernández, former Mexican undersecretary for electricity, and Jorge Castilla, managing director for Mexico at Accenture, said at an event hosted by the Inter-American Dialogue, the Embassy of Mexico, and the Energy Policy Research Foundation.
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Jair Bolsonaro’s victory in the Brazilian presidential election was widely seen as promising for the country’s oil sector, which has been revitalized by reforms that opened the upstream market under the Temer administration, but many questions remain unanswered as the January 1 inauguration approaches. Lisa Viscidi spoke with Meghan Gordon and Brian Scheid of the Capitol Crude podcast about the future of Petrobas and its subsidiaries, fuel subsidies, and deepwater exploration under Bolsonaro.
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Lisa Viscidi, directora del programa de Energía, Cambio Climático e Industrias Extractoras del Diálogo Interamericano comenta con Gustau Algret para Poder Latino de NTN24 sobre la desaparición del periodista saudí Jamal Khashoggi y las consecuencias del poder petrolero de Arabia Saudita.
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2018 has been a year marked by great political uncertainty for Latin American energy markets. Oil prices are up, creating strong incentives for investment, rising US natural gas exports are creating a new source of flexible, cheaper energy for Latin American consumers, and the cost of wind and solar energy is declining dramatically. However, Latin America continues to face uncertainty in energy policy as new governments take office in many countries and geopolitical tensions between the US and China are on the rise. With many questions on the table, government officials, corporate representatives, and analysts gathered on October 25 at the Inter-American Dialogue to assess the future of energy policy in the Western Hemisphere.
Until this year, resource nationalism—when a government asserts its control over a country’s natural resources—seemed to be on the wane in Latin America. But its potential return could set back Latin America’s two largest economies.
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.
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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.
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.
Latin America faces many challenges in developing its energy resources and providing clean, affordable and reliable energy. With presidential elections in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia next year, there is considerable uncertainty about future energy policy, as potential candidates in these countries have presented widely varying energy and economic policy platforms.
What does China stand to gain from investing in Latin America’s energy projects? Where is China looking next in the region?
With the recent decline in commodity prices, why have some countries have fared better than others?
Ecuadordan President Rafael Correa battles an increasingly dissatisfied citizenry as he implements fiscal reforms to counter dropping oil prices.
