Latin America's Riches-to-Rags Energy Future

Many Latin American countries are rich in oil and gas reserves or have the potential to become so through new exploration and production activities. However, many U.S. oil companies view central Asia and sub-Saharan Africa as more attractive investment locations than Latin America. This is because government policies and nationalist anti-U.S. sentiment in Latin America currently discourage investment in these countries. However, in the long run this state of affairs might favor foreign oil companies, since state-owned oil companies in the region don't have the financial or technological capability to develop national energy resources by themselves. Eventually, governments will have to change their oil policies to make them more investor-friendly if they are to assure their political survival.