Matthew Smith is Oilprice.com's Latin-America correspondent. Matthew is a veteran investor and investment management professional. He obtained a Master of Law degree and is currently located in Latin America. Matthew writes on oil and gas, mining and infrastructure.
A contentious move by Colombia’s first leftist President Gustavo Petro to end hydrocarbon exploration in the strife-torn Latin American country has exposed one of the domestic oil…
Leftist Lula de Silva’s victory in Brazil’s controversial October 2022 presidential election provoked apprehension that many of the investor-friendly oil industry reforms undertaken by previous…
Colombia’s petroleum industry, after decades of rapid growth which saw it become a key driver of the Andean country’s economic miracle, is facing serious headwinds since former…
The strife-torn Latin American nation of Colombia is facing considerable uncertainty after the first leftist president in the country’s modern history Gustavo Petro embarked upon…
The last decade has been difficult for Ecuador’s economically crucial oil industry. Despite recent reforms and rising investment, the Andean country’s hydrocarbon sector is struggling…
By late 2022 there were considerable concerns and doubts surrounding Suriname’s burgeoning offshore oil boom. Conflicting drilling results and seismic data saw 50% partners in Block 58…
Leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s controversial plan to end hydrocarbon exploration sparked fears it will roil the oil dependent economy and endanger the strife-torn country’s energy security.…
Offshore Guyana is garnering considerable attention from international oil companies as a slew of oil discoveries since 2015 underscore the significant oil potential of the…
The future of Colombia’s battered oil industry is once again in doubt. The plans of the strife-torn country’s first leftwing President Gustavo Petro, who was…
ExxonMobil made its first world-class oil discovery in Guyana’s territorial waters in 2015. Since then, the energy supermajor has made over 30 high-quality oil discoveries…
A series of high-quality oil discoveries in Block 58 offshore Suriname combined with investment bank Morgan Stanley estimating that the block contains 6.5 billion barrels…
President Joe Biden’s decision to authorize U.S. supermajor Chevron to recommence lifting crude oil in Venezuela breathed hope into President Nicolas Maduro’s plans to rebuild…
The collapse of Venezuela’s once prolific oil industry has triggered an economic and humanitarian crisis that accelerated in 2019 after U.S. President Donald Trump implemented…
After Russia’s president Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. along with many of Washington’s allies banned imports of Russian crude oil. This…
For decades, the petroleum industry in South America has been dogged by one environmental catastrophe after another. Oil spills, flaring and other environmentally damaging…
The Latin American country of Colombia is synonymous with violence, drug cartels and cocaine trafficking after decades of bloody multiparty low level…
Guyana’s offshore oil boom continues to gain momentum. It is the ExxonMobil-led consortium operating the 6.6-million-acre Stabroek Block offshore Guyana which stands to benefit the…
As an intense political crisis engulfs Peru, the country’s beleaguered oil industry continues to suffer from conflict with local communities. For nearly three decades a…
After a swathe of oil discoveries in offshore Suriname, primarily in Block 58, since the start of January 2020 there was considerable speculation that the…
Peru’s long-running political crisis has erupted into violence. Scandal embroiled leftist president Pedro Castillo, who sought to upend the conservative establishment and decades of neoliberal…