Brazil will join the influential OPEC+ oil coalition that unites some of the biggest crude-producing nations in the world, according to Brazilian Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira.
The announcement was made during a postponed OPEC+ meeting to discuss oil output strategy over 2024, amid languishing prices weighed by fragile demand recovery in China, geopolitical risks and uncertainty over supplies from U.S.-sanctioned OPEC members Iran and Venezuela.
In footage shared from the meeting, Silveira said that President Lula da Silva had approved his country’s membership, starting next year.
“I would like to conclude my words by informing you that the honorable President Lula confirmed our entry into the OPEC+ cooperation charter from January 2024,” he said.
“It is important that our technical crew analyzes the content of the document that we just received, the charter of the cooperation. It is part of our government protocol to do this,” he added.
The so-called document of cooperation of OPEC+ underpins the coalition and must be accepted by all group members.
“Brazil received an invitation to join OPEC+. The Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, analyzes the issue,” the Brazilian energy ministry said in a Google-translated response to a request for comment on the country’s membership.
It was not immediately clear if Brazil would have to carry out any production cuts starting next year, as a result of its membership.
Both the OPEC+ alliance and the OPEC subset of the group have been on the hunt for new members, as an increase in the number of aligned producers will also raise the coalition’s market share — and, implicitly, the impact of its coordinated policies over supply inventories and prices.
The announcement of Brazil’s membership to the Saudi Arabia and Russia-dominated OPEC+ comes after OPEC members Saudi Arabia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates were over the summer invited to join the BRICS groups of emerging markets, which includes Rio de Janeiro.