OLADE - Latin American Energy Organization

What is OLADE about?

OLADE was born in the context of the international energy crisis of the early seventies, whose scope and repercussions were reviewed by the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Lacking energy policies and faced with the need to deal appropriately with this crisis, they began an intense process of political mobilization that culminated on November 2, 1973 with the signing of the Lima Agreement, the Constitution of this Organization, which has been ratified by 26 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean:

Twelve South American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Seven Caribbean countries: Barbados, Cuba, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago and Dominican Republic.

Six Central American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.

One North American country: Mexico

 While promoting the creation of OLADE, the need for establishing a cooperation mechanism for the countries of the Region arose in order to develop their energy resources and jointly attend issues regarding their efficient and rational use attempting to contribute in the economic and social development of Latin America and the Caribbean. 

VISION: OLADE is the political and technical-support organization by means of which its Member States undertake common efforts to achieve integration and development in the regional energy market.

MISION: To promote agreements between its Member Countries and carry out actions to satisfy their energy needs by means of the sustainable development obtained from the different sources of energy.

Meeting Of Ministers of OLADE

It is the maximum managing body of the Organization.  It is made up of the Ministers of Energy or their equivalent in each Member Country. Its main purpose is to formulate the general policy of the Organization in keeping with the objectives of the Lima Agreement. Its duties include approving work plans, budgets, activity reports, balance sheets and financial statements as well as projects to reform the norms and Regulations of the Organization.

It is responsible for the election of the Member States of the Directive Committee and the appointment of the President, Vice President and Reporting Secretary. After a report of the Executive Secretary, it knows in advance, approves or rejects the joining of new members in the Organization, the rejoining of old members as well as the Participating Country status.   

Ordinary meetings are held once a year and extraordinary meetings are held when circumstances call for it according to what is stipulated in the Bylaws.

What has OLADE been doing recently?

The new strategy of the Latin American Energy Organization emphasizes the Regional Energy Integration, the collaboration among its Members States and the promotion of initiatives in order to include other countries, in and out of the region, to the Organization. This is the reason why OLADE has organized several National and Regional events for the countries of Latin American and the Caribbean. The purpose of these events is to identify common areas of mutual cooperation and technology transference.

Additionally, the events organized by OLADE pretend to provide a space to the Members and Participants Countries to share their experiences and projects, as well as to establish the foundations of the Regional Integration Process. 

Seeking to make the organization's work by sub-regions a permanent feature, OLADE's XXXIX Meeting of Ministers instructed the Permanent Secretariat to write up regulations defining the administrative, financial and operational scopes of the Sub-regional Offices. It also decided to extend operations of OLADE's Central American office for another year in order to strengthen the process of energy integration and sub-regionalization initiated by OLADE. As with OLADE's Sub-regional Office for Central America, the Caribbean Office will be subject to yearly performance reviews.

Benefits for Trinidad and Tobago being a member of the OLADE

(1) Work Opportunities

Officials working for the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE) are carefully selected not only for their professional profile but also for their leadership abilities and innovative ideas, which ensure the successful accomplishment of actions, projects and goals proposed by the Organization.

As part of the commitment with the Member Countries, OLADE constantly develops internship opportunities, aiming to contribute in the preparation of new professionals involved with the energy sector. Postulations for International positions are subject to the specific procedures and regulations established on the Internal Staff Regulations of OLADE. For the specific case of consultancies and internships, professionals and students interested may send their information by filling an application form. The form will be considered when OLADE requires specific services.

(2)  Internships

The Internship Program of the Organization is constantly open. It is addressed to top students in the last years of their careers, and recent graduates from Universities and Polytechnic Schools of Latin America and the Caribbean, in the following fields: Petroleum Engineering, Computers Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electric Engineering, Marketing and Social Communication. OLADE will accept applications for internships according to the requirements of the projects and actions done by the Organization and previous review of the information sent by the interested candidates and the sponsoring education institution.

(3) International Positions

The Permanent Secretariat informs about the openings of international level positions in the organization. Postulations can be sent from Ministries or State Departments of the Member Countries or sent directly by interested professionals who are citizens of one Member State of OLADE. The Organization also takes into consideration, the fair geographical distribution among its Member States.

(4) International Consultants

The International consultants hired by the Organization will be responsible to provide specialized services in technical projects. OLADE tends to contract, with the Organization's own resources or with external cooperation resources, international consultants required to provide specialized services in technical projects developed by the Organization. Those interested to work as consultants for OLADE in areas related to energy, can send their information to the Organization, which will be stored in a database. In case of open vacancies fitting the professional profile of the candidate, the Organization will contact the interested applicant in order to arrange an interview and ask for the original documents to support the information stored in the database.

(5) Energy Statistics Report

The "Energy Statistics Report" is published every year and presents not only regional and worldwide historical statistical information, as it was the case in the previous version, but also demand and supply forecasts for the 26 countries in Latin American and the Caribbean.

This report is developed based on the information provided by the Ministries of Energy of OLADE Member Countries and prepared by experts at the Organization. It presents statistical historical data and includes data on ethanol production and consumption, world power generation by type of plants, and energy demand matrices by country, by region for Latin American and the Caribbean. The "Energy Statistics Report" provides information about production, potentials, exports and imports, prices and consumption of different energy sources in each one of the Member Countries. Additionally, the report counts with indicators of economy, energy sources and emission generation derived from the activities in this sector, and energy supply and demand projection to 2018.  

(6) Virtual Energy Training Program

The Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE) by means of its Virtual Energy Communication System (SICVE) started a Virtual Training Program (CAPEV) in order to provide massive and frequent training programs. Taking advantage of SICVE and the tools provided by web-conference technologies, the virtual training courses intend to: 

• Reduce expenses on trips, transportation, stay and other expenses related to the

     transportation of professionals among countries and Ministries of Energy.

• Promote the increase of training events.
• Increase the frequency of training programs on different areas related to the energy

     sector.

• Use remote training technologies from Institutions outside of the Organization.

During the initial phase of the project, the trainings will be transmitted from OLADE offices to the countries participating in the courses or training modules. The objective in the future is to establish a network among countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, through which experts and energy specialists could share their knowledge and experiences regardless their location.

The virtual training courses will essentially be addressed to the staff from the Ministries and Secretariats of Energy of each one of the 26 Member Countries of OLADE ;however, virtual training courses are also expected to be provided to personnel from enterprises, universities, associations and international organizations and other private stakeholders interested in the energy sector.

Upcoming Events

The 40th Meeting of the Ministers will be held in Havana Cuba in the final week of October'09.

The 68th Directive Committee (CODI) Meeting and the 29th Council of Experts is also to take place in Cuba in the final week of October, 2009.

The II Latin-American and the Caribbean Energy Efficiency Seminar take place on 27th October 2009 in Cuba. It aims to present successful experiences in various aspects, to ensure the success of energy efficiency programs and identify efficient technologies that can be applied in Member Countries of OLADE.

The 4th Regional Energy Integration Forum (FIER 2009) will be held October 28- 29th, 2009. FIER 2009 aims to introduce and present the global and regional energy overview, in addition to proposing to Energy efficiency as a tool in the processes of regional and sub-regional Integration.