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.
Venezuela’s Descent Into Anarchy Is Fueling Maduro’s DesperationDescription: Tags: After more than 15 years of U.S. sanctions which caused Venezuela’s one mighty petroleum industry to collapse,…
The Guyana-Suriname Basin, which the U.S. Geological Service estimates hold crude oil resources of up to 33 billion barrels, is in the midst of a…
The deeply impoverished former English colony of Guyana has become one of the world’s hottest offshore drilling locations. Global energy supermajors have made a slew…
Despite being wracked by nationwide anti-government protests the prospects for Colombia’s beaten-down oil industry are improving. Most of the protests and blockades of major roads…
Former banker Guillermo Lasso’s surprise victory over favored candidate leftist Andres Arauz in Ecuador’s presidential election last month established a more optimistic outlook for Ecuador’s…
After a devastating 2020 strife-torn Colombia has been rocked by widespread anti-government protests which were sparked at the end of April 2021 by President Duque’s…
Maduro’s latest actions, hinting at his desire for a détente with Washington, have left many geopolitical analysts and Venezuela watchers confused as to what is…
Protests which erupted across Colombia in late April 2021 in response to proposed government tax hikes are now in their fifth week. There are indications…
Key Latin American U.S. ally and the region’s fourth-largest oil producer Colombia finds itself rocked by anti-government protests which are now into their third week.…
Protests and civil dissent are once again sweeping across Latin America, a region infamous for its political instability and economic inequality. While Colombia’s security crisis…
The near failure of the Venezuelan state, caused by the breakdown of the country’s oil industry, has triggered the second worst humanitarian crisis of the…
Colombia’s oil industry is yet again under considerable pressure, despite the national government in Bogota attempting to reactivate the economically crucial sector. The March 2020…
In the space of less than a decade Venezuela’s once-mighty oil industry, the petrostate’s economic backbone, has nearly collapsed. Since Maduro’s predecessor Chavez took power…
ExxonMobil is one of the few global energy supermajors which for some time resisted the energy transition which is underway and will eventually lead to…
Once again, for the third time in less than two years, Colombia is saturated by protests sparked by President Ivan Duque’s proposed tax reforms which…
Despite lengthy lockdowns and closed borders across South America, the continent is one of the worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Three countries, Brazil, Argentina…
Washington’s focus on disrupting narco-trafficking in Latin America, through a combination of coca crop eradication, enforcement and seizures is placing pressure on criminal organizations to…
As Guyana prepares to become a major oil production nation the spotlight is firmly on the Guyana-Suriname Basin and the former British colony’s neighbor Suriname.…
Military strikes in southwestern Venezuela and the resultant surge of refugees into neighboring Colombia have sparked renewed claims that the autocratic Maduro regime in Caracas…
The tiny South American nation of Guyana is poised to become one of the leading offshore drilling jurisdictions in South America. Global energy supermajor Exxon,…