Economic activity in Latin America and the Caribbean remains sluggish. Real GDP is expected to grow by 0.6 percent in 2019—the slowest rate since 2016—before rising to 2.3 percent in 2020.

Brazil's GDP growth is projected at 0.8 percent in 2019 and to accelerate in 2020 conditional on the approval of a robust pension reform and favorable financial conditions. The current budget is guided by the federal expenditure ceiling, entailing a minor reduction of the structural primary balance in 2019.

U.S. EIA - Argentina’s domestic natural gas production has been rising steadily in the past three years, largely because of increasing production from the Neuquén Basin’s Vaca Muerta shale and tight gas play. Production from Vaca Muerta surpassed 1.0 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in December 2018.

PDVSA and its joint ventures exported 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude and refined products last month, a 26% increase over May. Chinese buyers took 59% of the shipments, followed by India with 18% and Singapore with 10%, the documents showed.

Natural gas demand seasonality and growth in shale production have supported the development of LNG exports in Argentina. Argentina’s natural gas consumption peaks during the austral winter (May to September) and remains relatively low during the rest of the year.

Venezuela's exports of crude oil and refined products fell 17% in May from the previous month to 874,500 barrels per day

Argentina and Russia have set up a working group tasked with specifying the project on the construction of a nuclear power plant (NPP) in the Latin American country,

Brazil has seen its exports of crude grow from 734,000 b/d in 2015 to 1.3 million b/d in Q1 of this year. In contrast, Mexico, which was once a powerhouse of oil production, has maintained its export status only through curtailment of domestic refining, not increased crude oil output.

After contracting by almost 7 percent during the 2015-16 recession, real GDP grew by only 1.1 percent per year in 2017 and 2018.

Venezuela's state-owned PDVSA exported 1.416 million barrels of combined crude and products in May to Cuba's state Cubametales, up from 355,000 barrels in April.

Crudes are being priced at Dated Brent discounts between $15/b and $17/b, FOB, according to a PDVSA report.

Despite significant U.S. oil sanctions on the OPEC member nation, Maduro has held on to power, backed by Cuba, Russia and China, and retains the support of the country’s military and other institutions.

OPEC is due to meet in June, where the Iran question will no doubt be raised. But oil and gas leaders are taking a cautious approach, with Kuwait's oil minister Khaled Al Fadhel noting that a decision would be taken only after a review of oil prices.

In March 2019, Venezuela's crude oil production (excluding condensate) averaged 840,000 barrels per day (b/d), down from 1.1 million b/d in February,

Since January, Maduro’s administration has been in talks with allies in Moscow about ways to circumvent a ban on clients paying PDVSA in dollars, the sources said. Russia has publicly said the U.S. sanctions are illegal and it would work with Venezuela to weather them.