Latin America Upstream Conference, May 15-17th

By Lisa Flueckiger, Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The oil and gas industry is an ever-rising sector in Latin America and of great importance to the countries’ economies. It is therefore with anticipation that the 19th Latin America Upstream Conference and the ninth Latin Petroleum Strategy Briefing will be held in Rio de Janeiro from May 15-17th.

The Latin America Upstream Conference – formerly called Latin Oil Week – is the longest running oil and gas meeting in South America and organized by Global Pacific & Partners. At this premium event over 250 senior-level state and corporate attendees will discuss the latest developments in the field.

It is a business and deal-making exploration event with speeches, discussion and many networking opportunities. This year’s conference will meet in the Sofitel hotel in Copacabana.

The event focuses on Latin America’s oil, gas, and energy landscapes and strategies and evaluates new exploration, development and investment opportunities, potential upstream impacts and the potential of private and state oil and gas companies from Latin America and their impact on the upstream industry.

During the high-level meeting more than thirty key speakers of major corporate and state players will assess Latin gas-LNG (liquefied natural gas) and GTL (gas to liquids) ventures, heavy oil and deepwater potential, as well as specifically opportunities for Venezuela, Brazil and Mexico, Latin America’s oil giants.

Petra Energia will reveal China’s energy plans on the continent and State oil companies like Petrobras and Statoil will evaluate their Brazilian strategies. Marcelo Haddad, CEO of Rio Negócios, the official investment agency of the city of Rio de Janeiro, will also address the audience and speak on behalf of the city hall and Rio’s mayor Eduardo Paes.

The oil and gas sector is increasingly important for Latin America and especially Brazil, as some of the fastest growing oil and gas reserves, as well as potential new unconventional sources and pre-salt discoveries, can be found on the continent. Many countries have independent licensing agencies, offering lucrative investment opportunities.

The conference also comes just in time for the latest bidding round of Brazilian oil blocks, which will go into the next round this month (May) with concession contracts awarded in August. Also, bidding rounds for non-conventional oil and gas and new production sharing contracts for the pre-salt layer are expected for later this year.

Prior to the conference, the ninth Latin Petroleum Strategy Briefing will take place on May 15th. The Strategy Briefing will be held by Dr. Duncan Clarke, Chairman and CEO of Global Pacific & Partners and give insights into upstream oil and gas-LNG strategies in exploration and development of various players in Latin America.

The briefing will take place as an interactive forum with an in-depth analysis of the current situation and provides attendees with the opportunity to network and meet fellow delegates during the special luncheon and cocktail reception.

The conferences will be held in English, while speeches will be translated into Spanish, Portuguese and English. The combined conference and strategy briefing costs US$3,250. Entrance to just the conference or the briefing are also available, with the conference costing US$1,950 and the briefing US$1,950, and can (also separately) be booked here.