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Womble Bond Dickinson attorneys Alex de Gramont and David Attanasio are co-authors of “International Arbitration of Latin America’s Oil and Gas Disputes: Beyond State Showdowns to Commercial Conflict,” published by the Global Arbitration Review in The Guide to Energy Arbitrations (Seventh Edition). Over the coming months, we will publish regular client alerts based on the chapter that describe the current trends in the region’s six major oil and gas jurisdictions. This entry in the series provides a global overview of the key factors driving disputes. The full chapter is available here. 

The story of international arbitration in the Latin American oil and gas industry has usually been told through its most visible cases: expropriations, treaty claims, and billion-dollar awards against states. Those investor–state cases draw attention because they are dramatic and, in many instances, a matter of public record.

That story is incomplete. Alongside the familiar investor–state arbitrations sits a far less visible body of international commercial arbitration: disputes over concessions, joint ventures, pipelines, refineries, drilling services, equipment, shipping, supply agreements, and the long chain of contracts needed to move hydrocarbons from the subsoil to the market. Understanding when and why international arbitrations arise in this sector therefore requires a wider lens—one that connects changes in the industry to all forms of international arbitration, commercial and investor–state alike.

An Industry in Transition

Across the region, the oil and gas industry is transforming—though not uniformly. According to the Energy Institute’s 2026 “Statistical Review of World Energy”, oil production across Latin America reached roughly 9.6 million barrels per day in 2025, down 8.4% from a decade earlier, while total gas production fell by 8.7% over the same period. That decline may not last. Venezuela’s oil and gas sector may be near recovery after years of decay. Brazil continues to expand on the strength of its offshore production. Argentina is looking to turn its shale abundance into gas exports. Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador face their own forms of stagnation, political resistance, or state concentration. Each of these shifts redistributes the risks, and the arbitration exposure, across the region.

The starting point for the industry, across the region, is both legal and geological. Both oil and gas begin as deposits in the ground, and in Latin America the subsoil generally belongs to the state. Exploration and production therefore depend on some form of sovereign permission—whether a concession, production-sharing arrangement, service contract, mixed-company structure, or another vehicle. From there, the hydrocarbon chain branches. Oil travels by pipeline or tanker to domestic and international refineries (often in the United States) and then, as refined products, to ultimate consumers. Gas tends to move by pipeline to domestic or regional industrial users and power generators, though that pattern is beginning to change as countries such as Argentina consider LNG facilities that would permit worldwide export. Disputes may arise at any of these points in the value chain.

What Drives Oil and Gas Arbitration

Four factors drive international arbitration in Latin America’s oil and gas industry. The first is the level, variation, and type of economic activity in the sector. The second is how far hydrocarbon activities are open to private parties rather than centralized in state firms. The third is the practical availability of international arbitration through contract, treaty, or both. The fourth is domestic politics, understood broadly to include resource nationalism, fiscal pressure, and the temptations of high oil and gas prices, which have at times led states to take adverse action against foreign investors. Without economic activity, private participation, or arbitration clauses, international arbitration is a remote prospect, even for the routine disputes that arise from ordinary friction among business partners. When the state rewrites the rules of the game, however, private parties tend to defend their interests by whatever means are available.

When and why international oil and gas arbitration arises in Latin America also depends on the type of participant involved. Primary participants engage directly in production, transportation, processing, and distribution, usually under state regulation. Secondary participants supply goods and services, including construction, to the primary participants. Primary participants may, for example, contest regulations directly with the state, while both groups may fight over contracted supplies and services. The line is not a perfect one, but it captures most of the disputes we see.

The Road Ahead

In this series of client alerts, we will look in detail at disputes in the region’s six largest oil and gas producing countries—Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador—which together account for the overwhelming majority of Latin American production. Each alert will tell the story of international arbitration in one of those states: when and why it has arisen, and where it may be headed next. One caveat, shown most recently and most dramatically in Venezuela, is that trends in these countries can change quickly—a factor that by itself explains many arbitration cases.

Our next client alert in the series will address the fast-changing situation for oil and gas arbitration in Venezuela.

How We Can Help

Womble Bond Dickinson has top-shelf international arbitration practitioners who relentlessly think past the obvious solutions to identify optimal responses for the challenges confronting cross-border businesses. We routinely collaborate with foreign legal practitioners to provide our clients with critical insights grounded in local expertise. We encourage you to reach out for a consultation regarding your strategy for navigating the Latin American disputes landscape.