Welcome to the July edition of Energy Panorama. This month’s featured analysis, Pros and Cons of a Super Regulator – The case of the Spanish Regulator, focuses on the debate over the role of regulators in Mexico. Specifically, our Non-Resident Fellows Andres Chambouleyron and Leonardo Beltran delved into the proposal in Mexico to create a market super regulator, largely derived from the Spanish experience.
Our Clean Energy in Mexico webinar series in collaboration with the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center also convened a discussion focused on regulators and regulation: Will Mexico’s regulatory level playing field survive? A conversation with the experts that featured former CRE Commissioners Francisco Xavier Salazar, Montserrat Ramiro and Guillermo Zuñiga.
We are also pleased to share the summary report from our Virtual Panel on Caribbean Energy Security, that included a presentation and discussion of the vision for the energy sector of the incoming government in the Dominican Republic as well as perspectives and the impact of COVID-19 on energy transition and natural gas in the Caribbean Basin.
July saw the release of Spanish versions of two previously published reports and our efforts to further assess the outlook for renewable energy in Mexico as well as the role and importance of critical minerals and supply chains in the hemisphere: Los Argumentos Económicos y Estratégicos para la Energía Renovable en México and Entonces, Tú También Quieres Hacer Baterías? Un marco de referencia para desarrollar una estrategia industrial de la cadena de suministros de Baterías de Iones de Litio.
Continuing our assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on the pace and scope of energy transition across Latin America, we were pleased to have both Cecilia Aguillon, Director of the IOA’s Energy Transition Initiative, and Andres Chambouleyron contribute to the Inter-American Dialogue’s Energy Advisor newsletter and respond to the question: Is Covid Speeding up Latin America’s Energy Transition?
We also delved into the role of energy integration after the pandemic in an essay by Leonardo Beltran.
Jeremy Martin participated and moderated a July 15 virtual panel we organized in collaboration with CEBRI and a wide-ranging discussion of climate change, deforestation, power markets, energy transition and natural gas in Brazil.
As always, we are delighted to include the insights of IOA board member Chris Sladen and his essays written for ANZMEX.
Be sure to mark your calendars for our collaboration with IPD Latin America and Global Event Partners for the second Madrid Energy Conference set for Sep 28-Oct 2, online this year.
Welcome to the June edition of Energy Panorama. We begin this month’s newsletter with a note of welcome for the incoming president of the Institute of the Americas, Richard Kiy, and an expression of gratitude to Ted Gildred III as he winds down his term as interim president. More details on the new IOA president, Richard Kiy, below.
This month’s featured report “The Day After: Latin America’s response to key energy issues derived from COVID-19” by principal author Roger Tissot is a detailed analysis based on policy and political trends likely to impact several countries’ oil industries as they emerge from the COVID-19 health crisis; how the region arrived at the pandemic crisis and how countries responded and the key emerging trends that are likely to influence policy decisions in Latin America and the so-called “day after.”
We are also pleased to share the summary report and synopsis derived from the discussions at the Virtual XXIX La Jolla Conference, as well as several of the panel videos and news coverage.
The Virtual La Jolla Conference convened as the implications of COVID-19 and the massive shock to the global oil market and its impact across the hemisphere were being felt. The discussion focused on whether the energy transition was being accelerated or delayed, the role for the region’s NOC’s particularly in recovery, the potential for key plays such as Guyana, the Pre-Salt, Vaca Muerta, Camisea and fracking in Colombia. A cross-cutting and recurring debate over whether habits and consumption had temporarily or permanently changed yielded a variety of replies. How countries and energy policymakers are navigating the dual crises were very much on display and, as expected, differed from Mexico to Chile to Peru to Uruguay to Argentina.
Our assessment of the energy transition continued this month and clean hydrogen in Latin America was at the center of two articles – one in Spanish and one in English – by Cecilia Aguillon, Director of the IOA’s Energy Transition Initiative.
Clean Energy in Mexico, our webinar series in collaboration with the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center, kicked-off with John McNeece’s presentation of our jointly-published paper “The Economic and Strategic Arguments for Renewable Energy in Mexico.”
We also convened a virtual panel discussion focused on the energy sector in Bolivia and outlook for the next administration featuring representatives from the major political parties vying in the September election. The event also featured opening remarks from IOA Board member Jose Luis Manzano.
We are also pleased to continue to bring you the insights of IOA Board member Chris Sladen and his essays written for ANZMEX, of which there were two released in June.
We look forward to our collaboration with CEBRI in Brazil on a unique virtual panel on July 15, as well as our partnership with IPD Latin America and Global Event Partners for the second Madrid Energy Conference set for Sep 28-Oct 2, being presented and held online this year.
Richard Kiy Named President of the Institute of the Americas
The month of May at the Institute of the Americas is synonymous with our annual La Jolla Energy Conference. This year, as most of you know, meant the Virtual La Jolla Conference. We were very pleased to be able to pivot and host our XXIX La Jolla Conference online. The virtual platform allowed for a weeklong program accessible by a far greater number of attendees from across the hemisphere and globe.
We were extremely pleased with the topics, panels, level of discussion and high-level of engagement from the online attendees. We know that the move to an online event eliminated many of the La Jolla Conference’s most cherished elements, but we would like to thank our panelists, speakers, partners and participants for ensuring that our focus on high-level policy and investment discourse in a relaxed and friendly setting was alive and well.
We were also pleased to publish two reports in advance of the La Jolla Conference in an effort to foster dialogue on cross-cutting issues of natural gas and LNG, but also an excellent and rigorous analysis of the economic arguments and technical elements associated with renewable energy deployment in Mexico.
Despite the online setting, we feel this year’s discussions again served to foster high-level public-private dialogue on the future of the hemisphere’s energy sector, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and global oil price shock. The La Jolla Conference remains the linchpin for the Institute of the Americas objective of serving as an honest broker of policy and investment debates surrounding the hemisphere’s most critical energy and sustainability issues, whether online or, hopefully again soon, through our in-person events.
Stay tuned for our La Jolla Conference report. In the meantime, check out the recordings from many of the sessions, as well as the plethora of articles and media stories derived from discussions at the Virtual La Jolla Conference.
Clean energy in Mexico will be the topic for our next major webinar series, in collaboration with the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center. The series will launch on June 11 with John McNeece presenting a summary of our jointly-published paper “The Economic and Strategic Arguments for Renewable Energy in Mexico.” Mexico’s power sector was also the theme of Jeremy Martin’s commentary written for the Inter-American Dialogue Energy Advisor Newsletter.
Prior to the Virtual La Jolla Conference, we concluded our Critical Minerals and the Energy Transition webinar series in collaboration with the Payne Institute with a presentation by Nedal Nassar from the US Geological Survey and discussion of managing risk in critical mineral supply chains.
The April edition of Energy Panorama arrives as the world continues to navigate and manage crisis. We reiterate our best wishes to everyone directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the calendar turns to May, it’s time for the annual La Jolla Conference. As you know, last year the La Jolla Conference went tieless. This year we are going virtual. With the restrictions in place for travel and meetings, the XXIX La Jolla Conference will break new ground as a weeklong virtual conference from May 18-22. Please join us online this year.
Our featured report this month looks at the impacts of COVID-19 and the implications for Latin American economies and specifically the energy sector. We invited a dozen energy experts from across Latin America to comment on their respective markets. IOA non-resident fellows Andres Chambouleyron, Leonardo Beltran and Nelson Narciso were key contributors.
Our collaboration with the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines and webinar series Critical Minerals and the Energy Transition continued in April. We hosted three joint webinars focused on the intersection of critical minerals and the global energy transition, as well as a look at governance and implications for public policy and investment.
We ended April with an update and discussion of the outlook for renewable energy in Argentina as part of our traditional monthly webinar series.
Our non-resident fellow, Andres Chambouleyron, penned an essay for IPS News examining electricity demand during lockdown and the case of Argentina while Jeremy Martin commented for the Inter-American Dialogue’s Energy Advisor on the outlook for Vaca Muerta against the backdrop of the oil price collapse.
April also saw us formally kick off our collaboration with CEARE at the University of Buenos Aires and a session and discussion of oil markets featuring our UCSD colleague Mikkal Herberg.
Our analysis in April included the Spanish version published by Mexico’s El Universal of Jeremy Martin’s essay on oil price and fuels market in Mexico and featured his participation in a virtual panel hosted by El Universal.
Our podcast series turned to Ecuador and discussion of the oil sector, pipeline issues and possible reduction of fuel subsidies in a conversation with Julian Pastor of Quito law firm Sempertegui Abogados. Jeremy Martin also sat down to chat with Emily Hersh as part of the Minerals Manhattan Project podcast. They discussed a wide range of issues from the role of China in the Americas to leadership and multilateralism in today’s world.
We are also pleased to continue to bring you the cogent insights of IOA board member Chris Sladen and his monthly essay written for ANZMEX.
It is time for the March edition of Energy Panorama but first we would like to extend our best wishes to everyone directly affected by the Coronavirus and dealing with the duress and challenges caused by the pandemic.
At the end of February we hosted our annual Mexico Energy Roundtable in Mexico City. This month’s featured report is based upon discussions at the event.
Together with our partners at the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines, we formally launched a new webinar series: Critical Minerals and the Energy Transition. Through this webinar series we will examine the intersection of critical minerals and the global energy transition and implications for public policy and investment. Please join us on April 2, 14 and 23 for the first installments. Further details and registration can be found on the event listing and calendar.
Our traditional webinars continue and we hosted two in March. The first featured Jed Bailey of Energy Narrative and a great discussion of climate activism, the oil and gas sector and implications for Latin America. We also hosted David Goldwyn and Randy Bell at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, who shared insights derived from their report – A New Energy Strategy for the Western Hemisphere – on behalf of the US Department of Energy.
We are pleased to announce that effective April 1 energy economist and electric sector expert Andres Chambouleyron will join the Institute of the Americas as a non-resident fellow. Drawing upon his deep experience and knowledge of energy issues ranging from regulation, tariff policy, renewable energy markets, energy transition issues and electricity, his term as a fellow will include analysis of key public policy issues for the energy sector in the Americas and include research to be presented and published under the auspices of the IOA.
Andres, together with IOA non-resident fellows Leonardo Beltran and Nelson Narciso, and other experts, will contribute insights for a forthcoming series of interviews and report on the coronavirus and energy implications for key markets in Latin America.
Our analysis in March included an essay by Jeremy Martin on oil prices and the fuels market in Mexico as part of a special report published by the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, as well as an essay and broader insights on climate change and human rights by Jacqueline Sanchez.
In March we also launched our MOU with Inter Press Service News Agency to collaborate on content and a monthly opinion essay. Our non-resident fellow Leonardo Beltran published the inaugural piece with insights and perspectives on how governments across the region can reorient their state-owned enterprises toward sustainability in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Our podcast series marked March 18, a seminal date in Mexico, to posit three areas and steps to improve the outlook for the energy sector in Mexico this year.
We are also pleased to continue to bring you the cogent insights of IOA board member Chris Sladen and his monthly essay written for ANZMEX.
Welcome to the February edition of Energy Panorama.
We concluded February with our annual Mexico Energy Roundtable. Across several panels we convened frank and open discussion that underscored the challenges in Mexico today, but also highlighted possibilities and the outlook for the sector in 2020. We also replicated our successful model from Bogota last year and convened executive roundtables focused on energy transition issues and the social license to operate. Stay tuned for our event report, but in the meantime check out photos from the events below.
We continued our analysis of renewables in the region and our non-resident fellow, Leonardo Beltran, expanded upon last month’s podcast examining the “Samba” auction model and Brazil’s evolving power market in his essay published in FuturEnergy’s February edition.
We are also pleased to share the always-unique analysis of IOA board member Chris Sladen and his monthly essay written for ANZMEX.
Our webinar series in March will delve into how the oil sector is confronting the climate challenge and implications for Latin America, particularly the region’s offshore developments.
If you missed last month’s Energy Panorama, be sure to check out our report Baja California Energy Outlook 2020-2025. The Spanish version of the report is forthcoming.
We head to Buenos Aires on March 17-18 for our annual Argentina Energy Roundtable and discussions of the potential for leveraging the country’s energy potential for economic development and plugging into the global LNG market.
#OPINION "Pros and Cons of a Super #Regulator – The case of the Spanish Regulator" by @iamericas Non-resident Fellows @LeoBeltranR @achambouleyron
https://bit.ly/39jDMlG #Energy via @ipsnoticias
The virtual "#Madrid #Energy Conference" Join us on September 28-October 2. Organized by @iamericas @IPDLatinAmerica @ipd_mx @GEP_Events http://bit.ly/2DbGgGS #MEC2020.
