Brazil rejects OPEC invite

Brazil may be enjoying a windfall of offshore crude oil yet it declined joining the OPEC oil cartel. Iran, (a country that has increased its influence in some Latin American nations), formally invited Brazil to be part of OPEC in August. Yet the country’s energy minister decided that now would not be a good time:

(Brazilian energy minister, Edison Lobao) said that Brazil had declined the offer, saying his country has "other priorities"…

Mr. Lobao said that the invitation had come from Iran's ambassador to Brazil, Mohsen Shaterzadeh.

Although Brazil will not be taking up the ambassador's invitation, Mr. Lobao did not rule out joining OPEC at some point in the future.

Lobao’s comments came days after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and officials with state-run firm Petrobras viewed the first extraction of oil from the massive offshore Jubarte field.

U.S. Department of Energy figures place Brazil as the world's 13th-largest oil producer. Yet that could quickly change depending on the possible output of numerous recently discovered offshore fields.

Image- New York Times (“The P-43 floating platform is near Macaé, Brazil, which is the logistical base for a cluster of 38 platforms.”)

Sources- The Latin Americanist, Canadian Press, BBC News, IHT