Latin America’s NOCs fall from grace
The state’s heavy hand will slow recovery for the region’s state firms, hurting production and new exploration for years to come
NOT LONG ago, national oil companies (NOCs) were seen as the future of the industry. Powerful state companies were gatekeepers to much of the world's remaining oil trove and international investors had little choice but to work with them. Nowhere was this truer than in Latin America. The region's state energy champions rose in prominence through the 2000s. Petrobras was the standard bearer - its $70bn public offering was the largest in history and its market value at one point surpassed Shell and Chevron. Others also thrived. Ecopetrol rode Colombia's oil wave to regional prominence. Mexico's Pemex and Venezuela's PdV have long showed signs of stress, but high oil prices made them vital cash
Also in this section
11 April 2025
As the global economy grows, demand for materials is expected to increase. The way materials are made could incorporate new technologies in the future to ensure economic growth is more sustainable
9 April 2025
AI is powering the Middle East & North Africa’s digital transformation, but can the region meet soaring energy demand sustainably? Small modular reactors may hold the key
8 April 2025
STRATOS project in Texas granted Class IV permits despite deep uncertainty over Trump administration’s readiness to support carbon management tech
8 April 2025
Gulf Energy to provide AIQ with exclusive access to its proprietary datasets and industry-leading documents. ENERGYai is already trained on petabytes of operational data from ADNOC, and this agreement will provide the solution with access to even greater quantities of relevant, high-quality industry information
