By Carlos Garibaldi, Executive Secretary of ARPEL

Our industry has entered a new era of energy transitions and new risk dynamics. In order to drive the transformation of the oil and gas sector in Latin America and the Caribbean in line with these trends, ARPEL has adopted a new name: Association of Oil, Gas and Renewable Energy Companies of Latin America and the Caribbean.

This change, put forward by the Association's member companies, also extends to our Vision and Mission: • To be a regional reference in strengthening the industry as a provider of sustainable energy that contributes to the energy transition. • To promote the integration, operational excellence and sustainable development of the oil, gas and renewable energy industry in the region, through cooperation among members and collaboration with its main stakeholders.

In this new era of transitions, the synergy of the various sources is recognized by ARPEL as a key principle for energy supply. What we see are not dialectical dichotomies, but only tensions between trends that are not mutually exclusive but complementary and, therefore, a potential source of opportunities. In this sense, I would like to share two examples to illustrate the above.

First, at the intersection of Energy Security and Energy Transitions, we find natural gas, which provides a symbiotic and non-interruptible energy base for renewable energies. As a second example, at the intersection of our industry's Technical Competencies and Energy Transitions, we find, in addition to natural gas, underground carbon capture and storage, geothermal energy, "blue" hydrogen and offshore wind energy.

ARPEL supports fair energy transitions that rely on the resources of the Latin America and Caribbean countries and on our industry’s competence, and which also take into account the diverse energy idiosyncrasies of the countries of our region. Moreover, they must ensure that their populations have the necessary energy supplies at affordable costs for their sustainable development.

In short, we are promoting the transformation of the oil and gas sector in the region in times of energy transitions and new risk dynamics. This is, in fact, the goal of our ARPEL 2022 Conference, which will take place in Lima, Peru, from November 14 to November 16. We look forward to seeing you at the sixth edition of the ARPEL Conference to discuss the present and future of our industry.