Research Library

Latin America represents the largest energy resource base outside of the Middle East. The region’s vast energy resources — including significant crude oil and natural gas resources — and its unique political landscape make Latin America a significant player that could shift the geopolitical weight from the East to the West.  

Argentina is a risky place for foreign investors. But the country’s Vaca Muerta offers a case study on how unconventional shale gas investment may be lower risk, with implications that could spur shale production outside the U.S.

Sanctions against Venezuela have reduced PDVSA and the Maduro regime's revenues, but they have failed to lead to a path toward democracy or avert Venezuela’s economic and humanitarian collapse. The authors offer policy options for the Biden administration's consideration.

How can the U.S. government help the recovery of the post-transition Venezuelan oil and gas sector? The authors offer key recommendations.

More than a decade after G20 representatives pledged to phase out fossil fuel subsidies, significant barriers to a full retraction remain. This paper examines the political and social rationale behind fossil fuel subsidies, the factors that make them so difficult to retract, and offers policy recommendations aimed at easing the path to subsidy reform.

The history of the oil sector in the developing word has been characterized by cycles of investment, often followed by cycles of resource nationalism. Understanding the dynamics behind resource nationalism in Latin America is crucial for designing institutional frameworks that limit the cycles and induce long-term resource policies that foster the development of the abundant resource endowments in the region.

Venezuela, which has one of the largest hydrocarbon endowments in the world, offers a striking case study on the resource curse, write Francisco Monaldi, Igor Hernández and José La Rosa. This working paper is part of a series titled “The Role of Foreign Direct Investment in Resource-Rich Regions.”

The authors evaluate Argentina’s energy sector and test the hypothesis that investments in tight oil and shale gas extraction expose investors to fewer risks than extracting conventional oil and gas. This working paper is part of a series titled “The Role of Foreign Direct Investment in Resource-Rich Regions.”

If the country is to be economically successful and democratically viable, it would require learning from past mistakes and developing its significant potential in other economic sectors, writes energy policy fellow Francisco J. Monaldi. Forbes blog: http://bit.ly/2R80KU3.

Fellow Francisco J. Monaldi examines the factors that led to the collapse of Venezuela’s oil industry and the impact of sanctions against the country.