Still Addicted To Hydrocarbons
While the region is still hydrocarbon-dependent, there is growing awareness of the costs of that dependence, and of the potentially substantial benefits to be had from diversification and decarbonisation. Latin America and the Caribbean still has abundant conventional oil and gas reserves, concentrated in Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil and several other countries. there have been major deepwater discoveries off the coast of Guyana. Also present are additional non- conventional hydrocarbons reserves, including the orinoco tar sands in Venezuela, sizeable shale oil and gas reserves in Mexico and Argentina, and deep water offshore oil deposits in Brazil. oil accounted for 46% of the region’s total primary energy supply (tPES) in 2013, significantly above the global average of 31%. oil dependency is particularly acute in the regional transport sector, reflecting a vehicle fleet that, on average, is older and less fuel-efficient than in other parts of the world.