Topic:  Energy, oil and gas (including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Guyana, Mexico, and Venezuela)

Speaker: David Edick, Jr., Principal at Core Global Advisory

Presentation:
Latin America contains two OPEC members and several other major non-OPEC oil producers. Latin America also contains vast reserves of lithium in the multinational Altiplano plateau of the Andes. Yet, the term 'Latin America' implies shared commonality that in reality rarely exists across the region. National differences in ethnic & social culture, physical resource base, commercial culture and colonial legacy make for a diverse region. At a time when decarbonization, the war in Ukraine, and the sharpening geopolitical tension between the US and China are ascendant themes, it is crucial to understand these overarching themes are modulated in Latin America by the domestic realities of each country. 

In his presentation David Edick will review the status and outlook for the region's largest traditional fossil fuel producers, including Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia. Colombia remains a major coal exporter of renewed importance to a derussifying Europe. David will review the rise of offshore Guyana as a world class oil province and Argentina's Vaca Muerta fracked natural gas development. He will also discuss Latin America's curious dependency on imported refined fuels and LNG from the United States. David will also discuss the success of Chile and frustrations of Bolivia in developing their Altiplano lithium resources as part of the global energy transition.

Speaker's bio:

David Edick Jr. is Principal at Core Global Advisory, a consultancy focused on energy, political risk, commodities, and market strategy. David has over 30 years' experience in trade, investment banking, and NGO relations in Russia. He has worked abroad in Russia in the food trade and investment banking sectors, and in Mexico in the seafood export development business.

David also serves as a member of the Energy Committee for the Western Regional Partnership (WRP), a collaborative between the Department of Defense and representatives of Federal agencies and State and Tribal leadership in 6 states of the US southwest. He also serves on the WRP Natural Resources Committee and the Tribal Engagement Working Group.

Drawing on his global perspective and experience, David has lectured widely for more than 15 years on energy, finance and geopolitics.

Long active in San Diego's international civil society community, David is 3-term Past President of the San Diego World Affairs Council. He is also 6-term Past President of the San Diego International Sister Cities Association, and 7-term Past President of the San Diego - Vladivostok (Russia) Sister City Society. In 2004-2005 David guided the establishment of Sister City relations between San Diego and Jalalabad, Afghanistan, and in 2015 he served as Chair of the Steering Committee which led the establishment of San Diego’s 16th sister city relationship (Panama City, Panama). 

David graduated from San Diego State University in 1985 with a custom-designed, cross-disciplinary degree in Global Political Economy. David and his family live in Rancho San Diego, California.

David has made a number of presentations over the years to chapters of The FENG including:
- Europe’s Derussification Supercharges a Global Energy Crisis 
- The Global Economic Implications of the War in Ukraine 
- The Natural Gas Pricing Crunch and Inflation
- Russia and the Global Energy Transition
- Fracking and US Energy Independence