Latin America’s national oil companies (NOCs) must perform a difficult balancing act as they seek to bounce back from the pandemic and shore up profits and reserves, a panel of experts said during a virtual event Tuesday.

Pemex gas output

Oil “is at the heart of economic, social [and] fiscal issues in Latin America,” said Mauricio Cárdenas, who served as Colombia’s finance minister from 2012-2018.

Cárdenas is a visiting senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, which hosted the event.

The region’s NOCs, he said, are fundamental sources of foreign exchange revenue, fiscal revenue, employment and overall economic activity in their respective home countries.

The companies stand to benefit...