The Brazilian government on Tuesday approved joining the OPEC+, a group of major nations exporting oil, signaling the country's evolution in a large oil state just nine months before organizing the annual UN climate summit.
The approval of the National Energy Policy Council appeared in response to the official invitation in 2023. The group includes 12 OPEC members, a long -term group formed to coordinate oil production to stabilize markets, as well as 10 more significant pus producing nations, with Russia the greatest so far .
Although members from outside OPEC agree to cooperate with OPEC nations, Brazil will not have a binding obligation, such as production cuts, the Minister of Energy and Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira at a press conference.
The participation will be limited to the cooperation card, a permanent forum for OPEC and OPEC+ countries to discuss the problems related to the industry. The country of South America will not take part in decisions.
Silveira only called the card “forum to discuss strategies among oil -producing countries. We should not be ashamed of being oil producers. Brazil must develop, develop and create income and jobs. “
Lula approves drilling near the Amazon River
President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva began his third term in 2023, N advertising as a defender of the environment and worked on limiting the desecration in the rainforest of the Amazon and the protection of native rights. But he also argued that new oil income can finance the transition to green energy.
In recent weeks, he has pressed the national environmental authority to approve exploration drilling near the mouth of the Amazon River, one of the most biological regions of the world.
Brazil is the seventh largest oil producer in the world, with about 4.3 million barrels a day, i.e. four percent of world production, according to Energy Information Administration, US government agency. In 2024, oil became the highest export product in the country, which is 13.3 percent of foreign sales of Brazil, exceeding soy.
Maintenance9:34Should Canada take a page from OPEC?
Almost one in four barrels of oil improved in the USA comes from Canada. And despite the great conversation, it would be very difficult for them to live without him. So how do we use it? Economist Kent Fellows says that we should follow the OPEC textbook – just turn on and turn off the taps as soon as we feel like it.
The United States is the world's largest producer of almost 22 million barrels a day, and Saudi Arabia, the largest producer in OPEC, about 11 million barrels.
Lula's chase to increased oil production was criticized because Brazil is preparing for the organization of the UN climate summit known as COP30 in November. The central emphasis on the annual climate conversations was to reduce the use of fossil fuels, which after burning releases greenhouse gases that heat the planet.
“Brazil's entrance to any OPEC body is another sign of the government's failure,” says Araujo, a spokesman for the climate observatory, networks of 133 environmental, civic and academic groups.
Opening new areas for exploring fossil fuels “indicates that we choose solutions from the past in the face of a huge challenge for the present and future,” said Araujo.