ASSESSMENTS

South America and the Energy Merry-Go-Round

Sep 28, 2017 | 17:39 GMT

Over the past year Brazilian President Michel Temer and his administration have been moving to cut restrictions on oil and gas production.

An oil platform rests temporarily in Guanabara Bay in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil's president has been trying to boost oil and gas production by trimming government regulations.

(YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP/Getty Images)

Highlights

  • Policy shifts in Argentina and Brazil will change the energy situation in the Southern Cone and beyond over the next five years.
  • Elections in Argentina and Brazil in the coming two years could bring further change to the energy regulations of both countries. 
  • As Argentina and Brazil become less dependent on Bolivia's natural gas, the Bolivian government in La Paz will try to normalize relations with Chile. 

The winds of political and economic change are blowing through Argentina and Brazil, and Bolivia may be forced to take cover. Large natural gas shale reserves in Argentina and oil fields in Brazil will become more attractive to foreign and domestic energy investors because of regulatory changes currently underway. Both countries are moving to increase their hydrocarbon production, and their efforts stand to make them less dependent on Bolivia's natural gas in the next five years. The shift will force Bolivia to normalize its long-strained relations with Chile, which has the Pacific ports it needs to exports its gas beyond Brazil and Argentina. ...

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