Protests and civil dissent are once again sweeping across Latin America, a region infamous for its political instability and economic inequality. While Colombia’s security crisis is threatening the strife-torn country’s petroleum industry, Argentina’s hydrocarbon sector is recovering after striking healthcare workers lifted blockades in the Neuquen province at the end of last month. By early April 2021, striking healthcare workers demanding higher wages as they managed Argentina’s COVID-19 crisis, were blockading the sprawling Vaca Muerta shale oil and gas deposit in Neuquen. That province is at the heart of Argentina’s hydrocarbon sector – pumping over a third of Argentina’s total crude oil production and half of its natural gas. Neuquen contains the vast Vaca Muerta shale formation, which is recognized as the world’s second-largest shale gas deposit, holding 16 billion barrels of oil and 308 trillion feet of recoverable natural gas. The EIA estimated that only around 4% of […]