Matthew Smith

Latest articles from Matthew

• Exxon May Emerge As The Biggest Winner In Guyana’s Oil Boom

  Published 02 October 2022 | viewed 4,457 times

  The impoverished tiny South American country of Guyana has emerged as one of the continent’s top oil producers and is poised to become a leading…

• Colombia May Shoot Itself In The Foot With Ban On Fracking

  Published 23 September 2022 | viewed 7,959 times

    The controversial hydrocarbon technique hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, which sparked the U.S. oil boom catapulting that country to become the largest petroleum producer…

• Can Argentina’s Dead Cow Shale Patch Save Its Economy?

  Published 22 September 2022 | viewed 3,538 times

  Like countries across Latin America, Argentina was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Infection and death rates surged despite the government in Buenos Aires implementing…

• Colombia’s New Leftwing President Is Hiking Taxes On Its Oil Industry

  Published 12 August 2022 | viewed 5,746 times

  After an electoral victory, which shocked many in and outside of Colombia, long-time senator and former leftist guerilla Gustavo Petro was inaugurated as Colombia’s President…

• More Oil Discoveries Boost Guyana’s Offshore Boom

  Published 30 July 2022 | viewed 12,412 times

  The former British colony of Guyana, a nation whose economy was hit hard by the pandemic, has emerged as the world’s hottest offshore drilling location.…

• Is Biden Ready To Ease Sanctions Against Venezuela?

  Published 14 July 2022 | viewed 9,596 times

  When President Joe Biden won the 2020 U.S. presidential election, a wave of optimism washed over Latin America. Many in the region saw Biden’s rhetoric…

• Soaring Prices Have Led To An Uptick In Oil Theft In Colombia

  Published 11 July 2022 | viewed 2,979 times

  A notable increase in lawlessness, corruption and violence, fueled by record cocaine production and heightened poverty, has marred the four-year term of outgoing Colombian President…

• Could Argentina’s Dead Cow Shale Patch Help Solve The Energy Crisis?

  Published 06 July 2022 | viewed 10,442 times

  In a surprise development, Latin America’s third largest economy Argentina reported record hydrocarbon production for May 2022. For that month Argentina pumped an average of…

• Is This The Most Promising Oil Discovery Hotspot On Earth?

  Published 05 July 2022 | viewed 16,641 times

  ExxonMobil’s slew of major oil discoveries in offshore Guyana since 2015 has seen the deeply impoverished former British colony become a hotspot for offshore drilling…

• Colombia’s Shale Oil Industry Is Increasingly Unappealing For Investors

  Published 05 July 2022 | viewed 5,381 times

  A lack of major oil discoveries and meager proven reserves of 2 billion barrels saw Colombia look to hydraulic fracturing as a means of securing…

• The Biggest Threat To Brazil’s Oil Boom

  Published 28 June 2022 | viewed 3,796 times

  Latin America’s largest economy Brazil is experiencing a massive offshore energy boom which has seen the country overtake Venezuela and Mexico in little over a…

• Will Colombia’s New President Upend Its Oil Industry?

  Published 28 June 2022 | viewed 2,934 times

  Leftist candidate Senator Gustavo Petro emerged victorious from Colombia’s June presidential run-off as the strife-torn country’s president elect. On 7 August 2022 Petro will be…

• Social Backlash Is Wreaking Havoc On Ecuador’s Oil Industry

  Published 27 June 2022 | viewed 3,680 times

  The tiny impoverished South American nation of Ecuador is battling to revive its flagging oil industry. The Andean country was floated as a solution for…

• The Energy Crisis Has Been A Boon For Argentina’s Dead Cow Shale Patch

  Published 18 June 2022 | viewed 7,571 times

  The U.S., UK, and European Union's ban on Russian oil imports sparked by President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has sent global energy prices soaring.…

• Guyana Could Overtake Brazil As South America’s Top Oil Producer

  Published 14 June 2022 | viewed 7,932 times

  Global energy supermajor ExxonMobil and its partners Hess and CNOOC have made an astonishing number of high-quality oil discoveries in offshore Guyana. In April 2022…

• Will Colombia’s Oil Industry Survive The 2022 Presidential Election?

  Published 14 June 2022 | viewed 3,984 times

  The outlook for Colombia’s oil industry has never been more uncertain. Not only is rising violence, fueled by poverty and cocaine production, weighing on operations…

• Oil Majors Are Lining Up For The Next Great South American Oil Boom

  Published 06 June 2022 | viewed 41,947 times

  The Guyana-Suriname Basin has emerged as the world’s hottest offshore oil play and with the changes occurring to the global energy mix after Russia’s invasion…

• Not Even $100 Oil Can Rescue Colombia's Ailing Oil Industry

  Published 06 June 2022 | viewed 16,724 times

  The COVID-19 pandemic hit Latin America particularly hard. Some countries in the region, aside from experiencing high mortality rates and case counts, saw their fiscally…

• Could Lifting Sanctions On Venezuela Help Ease The Energy Crunch?

  Published 26 May 2022 | viewed 3,892 times

  Soaring energy prices, triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and diminished global production, have brought the focus back onto Venezuela, an OPEC member who was…

• How Hezbollah Is Sparking Instability In Latin America

  Published 24 May 2022 | viewed 3,772 times

  Extreme socioeconomic inequality, weak central governments, organized crime, and the vast profits generated by cocaine have inflamed geopolitical instability in Latin America for decades. That…