"There's no real substitute for cooperation and integration," Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary-general of the Organization of America States, said at a conference Monday at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington.

He conceded, however, that "we hear a lot about integration from our leaders, but then we hear a lot about self-sufficiency" as well.

South American energy integration is not a new concept but remains a primarily theoretical one. Member nations of the South American Community of Nations pledged to strengthen relations "on the basis of the sustainable use of their energy resources and potential … and to move toward South American unity," but their Energy Summit concluded in April 2007 with few tangible results.

Moreover, bickering among South American nations, exemplified most recently by Venezuela's withdrawal of its ambassador to Colombia, persists. Such strife fuels national dreams of self-sufficiency as it depletes trust between governments in the region, according to conference panelists.

In a recent example, tension surfaced between Argentina and Chile during their winter when Argentina cut back natural gas deliveries to its neighbor. According to The New York Times (NYSE:NYT), Argentina claimed its Congress never approved the energy contracts signed by the two nations in 1994. Chile refuted Argentina's claim.

Indeed, South America's "big issue" in terms of energy cooperation is not whether contracts will be negotiated, according to panelist David Mares, professor at the University of California-San Diego. Instead, "the question is the credibility of the new contracts."

"That kind of uncertainty is a killer," he added.

Nevertheless, Insulza assured attendees that energy security "is a hemispheric issue we can deal with together."

Asked the inevitable question of how, Insulza was vague, suggesting that trade and harmonizing policies could be the way to begin.

"Once you take the first steps, you build trust," he said.

Some recent developments support his stance. Despite previous strife between Brazil and Bolivia, for instance, Brazil's state-owned Petrobras recently announced that it would invest in Bolivia's natural gas sector.

Some of the world's most successful integration efforts have arisen "out of situations in which there was very little trust," said Insulza.

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Siobhan Devine, UPI Correspondent