Nelson Altamirano
Visiting Scholar 2005-2009
Adjunct Professor, National University

Area of Expertise: International Finance, Latin American Political Economy, mining, natural resources. He is an expert on political economy issues related to mining and oil industries, copper mining, oil and natural gas in South America.

Country of Expertise: Chile, Bolivia, Brazil and Venezuela

Project title: The Building of a National Oil Firm and its Continuous Transformation: PDVSA, Venezuela and Chavez

Current Research Project:
Venezuela is in its 5th Republic since Hugo Chavez became president in 1998, and PDVSA, the Venezuelan national oil company, has been restructured in 2002 and it is called the new PDVSA since then. Oil, politics and economics cannot be separated in Venezuela, and it is not the first time that a president wants to use oil resources to support his own political agenda. However, PDVSA since its creation in 1976 has been able to consolidate its independence from governmental influence, and by the 1990s it was considered a state within the state. Within the oil business community, PDVSA was a world top oil firm until 2002, and it was considered a well run business compared to private oil giants like Shell or Exxon-Mobile. Within the country and for people outside PDVSA, the firm was only good for its workers and it was not a firm most Venezuelans were identified with. So, as in most Latin American countries, PDVSA’s last transformation corresponds to the nationalization of the nationalization, or the 2nd wave of nationalizations in Latin America.
Given that this Latin American process is just starting, the project aims to describe the business institutional changes from 1976 to 2002 and the changes after this date. It is an organizational study of PDVSA and its links with the Venezuelan government structure.

Academic Background:
Ph.D. International Economic Policy and Management, IR/PS and Department of Economics, University of California, San Diego

Selected Publications:
“An Analysis of LNG in the Americas,” Energy Pulse, April, 2005.
“Government Economic Policies and Energy Markets: Old and New Paradigms in Brazil,” Area Studies Tsukuba No 22, March 2004.
“Copper marketing with forward and futures contracts: state-owned and private Chilean firms during the 1990s.” Resources Policy No. 27, Issue 4. 2002: 261-272.