Baker Institute conference will look at energy landscape in Latin America

Baker Institute conference will look at energy landscape in Latin America

BY FRANZ BROTZEN
Rice News staff

Recent volatility in the energy sector has had a profound effect on the politics as well as the economics of Latin America. The Latin American Initiative and the Energy Forum at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy will present a daylong conference Feb. 26 to examine economic, political and social forces that influence national and regional energy policies.

The event, “Energy, Policy and Politics: The Changing Energy Landscape in Latin America,” begins at 8:30 a.m. in Baker Hall.

The conference is designed to bring together policymakers, scholars, energy industry officials and analysts to discuss emerging trends and influences that are shaping Latin American energy policy today.

Through a wide range of keynotes from regional leaders and topical panels, the conference will address topics including competing paradigms for sustaining energy sector investment, the increased role of alternative energy, the changing role of national oil companies, and energy reform and privatization.

The governor of the Mexican state of Veracruz, Fidel Herrera Beltran, will deliver the luncheon keynote address on new legislation and business opportunities for Texas companies in Mexico and new oil reserves such as the ones in Paleocanal de Chicontepec.

For more on the conference, including a preliminary agenda, go to http://www.bakerinstitute.org/events/energy-policy-and-politics-the-changing-energy-landscape-in-latin-america.

This event is co-sponsored by the Baker Institute’s Latin American Initiative, the Baker Institute’s Energy Forum and the Americas Society/Council of the Americas.

Rice faculty, staff and students who want to attend the Baker Institute event must RSVP by e-mail (bipprsvp@rice.edu) or by fax (713-348-5993).