This month our regional focus is on South America, a region long considered one of the emerging industrial gas markets but arguably in the shadow of fellow developing gas hubs, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
Early 2015 has seen the region striving to adjust to collapsing commodity prices and the slowdown in trading partner China’s economy, in particular. Analysis suggests that South America is in search of a new post-commodities boom economic model, while belt-tightening in the short-term will see growth slow.
Though prudent economies such as Chile and Peru are understood to be less exposed to the cyclical commodities collapse, Venezuela is known to have significantly suffered from the plummeting price of oil and Brazil – the largest of both the Latin American nations and the region’s gases markets – is cutting public spending by 2% of GDP. Slowing growth is the new norm, it seems.
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