We are proud to celebrate Arpel’s 61st anniversary. Our association was founded in Rio de Janeiro on October 2, 1965, by eight state-owned companies. Throughout its history, private regional independents, global integrated, hydrocarbon transportation, LNG and refining companies joined the association. Global companies providing goods and services also joined as cooperative members.

Our collaborative network of experts provides members with reciprocal technical assistance to address specific technical or management issues, and a platform for continuous improvement through the sharing of best practices. We publish guides, manuals and position papers, and offer workshops, webinars and courses.

Since our origins, we have remained focused on the basics: efficient and safe operations.

Today, we are committed to continuing to operate responsibly and in a manner that is responsive to the social mandates arising from the urgency to mitigate the effects of climate change. Accordingly, we are placing greater emphasis on the urgency of achieving greater energy efficiency and decarbonizing our operations, processes and facilities in order to drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, particularly methane emissions.

We are therefore focusing in parallel on two main pillars: operational excellence, as always, and our sector’s resilience.

We strengthen them through ten committees, addressing issues across the value chain segments and cross-cutting topics, such as digital transformation, industrial cybersecurity, water management, process safety and integrity, among others.

We seek, therefore, to be a business platform and a regional reference that strengthens our sector, keeping it competitive and resilient as a sustainable provider of energy products. In this regard, we must continue to promote the exploration, development, production, transportation and refining of hydrocarbons, because they will continue to be the foundation of the global energy system for the foreseeable future.

This is because it is already evident that renewable energies do not replace hydrocarbons, but rather add to them in the face of ever-growing energy demand, and that we are experiencing an evolution rather than a transformative transition toward a radically different end state. Our hydrocarbon industry must therefore continue to be the industry of industries, guaranteeing energy security and affordability.

Arpel is responsible for bringing these messages to our region and to the world.

We have direct relationships with governments (energy ministries, application and regulatory bodies) and with relevant national, regional and global business, professional and intergovernmental associations. In fact, we are the only association in the region invited to forums of intergovernmental organizations, both regional and global (such as OLACDE, COP and OPEC), to represent the interests of our region’s hydrocarbon industry.

We speak before ministers, parliamentary committees and environmental audiences. We also deliver lectures to university students aandormational workshops for journalists on general topics, such as the role of oil and gas, and on specific issues such as shales and fracking.

Our highly successful 8th Arpel Conference (Buenos Aires, June 1–4, 2026) served to reinforce our messages but also provided valuable input for us to continue understanding the concerns and interests of our members. It brought together 110 speakers, including government and intergovernmental authorities, CEOs and other top executives, national, regional and global business and professional associations, think tanks, consulting firms, academics, journalists and professionals, with a total of more than 600 participants from 25 countries across the region, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Our flagship event was made possible thanks to the generous support of YPF, Raízen, Tecpetrol, TGN, Ancap, BCG, ERM, Geopark, OceanPact, Pan American Energy, Pluspetrol, S&P Global, Tema, TGS, Peru LNG-Hunt, Rosen and others. We look forward to seeing you in 2028, on a date and at a venue to be determined.

We will continue to make collaboration the essence of Arpel’s mission. Together, we will continue to provide energy with adaptability and pragmatism in the face of rapid global changes.

And may we celebrate many more years together.

By Carlos Garibaldi, Arpel Executive Secretary