IPD EnergyNet
Our thought provoking and timely analysis of the energy industry offers IPD clients a unique local perspective that enables them to better understand energy dynamics and create opportunity.
Venezuela
The Lower Oil Output, the Fiercer the Competition
Several of Venezuela’s crude offtakers began to take a more assertive stance with PDVSA over the course of 2018. They appear concerned about the beleaguered country’s ability to comply with its delivery commitments. A look at the numbers gives them good reason. Production in constant decline means someone will lose out at some point, regardless of how well they are positioned with Caracas. That someone could be the Maduro administration.… [READ MORE]
Mexico
MORENA's Fight for Control Over the PEMEX Union
With AMLO’s goal of embodying the Fourth Transformation in Mexico’s history, the need to control PEMEX’s union (the Mexican Petroleum Workers’ Union or the STPRM) becomes a key objective. STPRM boss Romero Deschamps, however, is making it clear that he has no plans to loosen his grip on the union he has controlled for the last 24 years. Democratic and open elections have been the rallying cry of the MORENA-controlled Congress. But make no mistake about it, this is a major fight for power. Romero Deschamps proved adept at thwarting MORENA’s efforts in the October union elections, but this battle is far from over.… [READ MORE]
Mexico
MORENA’s Nationalists Start to Flex Their Muscles: Impact on Energy Sector & Treaties
When AMLO officially takes office on December 1st, his administration will usher in a whole new set of rules. None may prove more significant than those that relate to how law is made, interpreted, and possibly disregarded. In this context, Mexico’s litany of treaties need to be considered. With AMLO’s MORENA party holding strong majorities in both congressional chambers, rubber stamping of AMLO’s initiatives is widely expected. But at the same time, MORENA’s nationalists are rapidly revealing their anti-establishment views on a range of fronts (including the energy sector), which are certain to bump up against AMLO should he try to hold a more pragmatic middle ground. Despite conventional wisdom that AMLO will have the final MORENA word, there is mounting evidence that Congress may not simply follow marching orders as it starts to get a taste for power.… [READ MORE]
Venezuela
Downstream Problems Increase Fuel Supply Volatility
Venezuela’s fuel supply still hangs on a thin, taut thread. Even the smallest glitch can hit the domestic market hard, as evidenced by the Caracas gasoline shortage two weeks ago. Local refineries’ real capacity averaged 525 mb/d in October. Nameplate capacity is 1,303 mb/d. Insufficient feedstock, port bottlenecks, and distribution problems are just a few of the problems that will constrain Venezuela’s fuel supply for some time to come.… [READ MORE]
IPD News & Press
Few Clear Signals for Mexico’s Fledgling Natural Gas Market as AMLO Prepares to Take Office
Tuesday, July 24, 2018
NGI
24/07/2018
Following the decisive and historic victory of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in the July 1 presidential election, Mexico’s natural gas sector is in wait-and-see mode as the dust settles from the ca. . . [READ MORE]
Colombia’s Elections: Major Political Shifts and Hydrocarbons Sector Impact
Friday, May 11, 2018
Bogota, Colombia - Colombia has long been governed by a highly interwoven, conservative, symbiotic political and business class. But current polls show that, regardless of who wins the upcoming presidential elections, . . . [READ MORE]
Mexico’s New Hydrocarbons Model: A Critical Assessment Four Years Later (English and Spanish)
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
MEXICO CITY - Mexico’s energy sector finds itself once again at a fork in the road. The government has spent the past decade trying to create a stronger regulatory framework with better checks and balances and a more. . . [READ MORE]
Debate over Venezuela oil sanctions intensifies as refugee crisis grows
Friday, April 27, 2018
Strategic considerations: The debate over whether the US should sanction Venezuelan oil and refined products is shifting as the country’s humanitarian disaster deepens.
REDD
23 April 2018 07:36 PM
The US doesn’t want to be. . . [READ MORE]
