Petropolitics hang over Latin America's producers
Elections next year in Venezuela, Mexico and Brazil have pivoted politics to the region’s fore again. Can it break the self-destructive resource-nationalist cycle?
At the turn of this century, nobody would have guessed that within two decades Brazil, then a backwater for the oil industry, would be pumping more crude than powerhouse producers Mexico and Venezuela. Yet last year it did just that, partly thanks to a run up in its own output, and partly because of the decline of the others'. The change in fortunes shows how the region's volatile petropolitics, and of course a bit of geological luck, have shaped the landscape and will forge its future. Venezuela is now the poster child for oil politics gone awry. Twenty years ago, it was embarking on a policy of apertura, opening its vast Orinoco oil reserves to private foreign investors. Cash flooded in an
Also in this section
10 March 2026
From Venezuela to Hormuz, the US—backed by the most powerful military force ever assembled—is redrawing not only oil and gas flows but also the global balance of energy power
10 March 2026
By shutting the Strait of Hormuz, Iran has cut exports of distillate-rich Middle Eastern crude, jet fuel and diesel, and is holding the energy market hostage
10 March 2026
Eni’s director for global gas and LNG portfolio, Cristian Signoretto, discusses how demand will respond to rising LNG supply, and how the company is expanding its own gas and LNG operations through disciplined, capital-efficient investments
9 March 2026
Petroleum Economist analysis sees increases in output from Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Kazakhstan among others before region’s murky descent
