OPEC+ Invites Brazil to Join Oil Producers Alliance

Brazil was invited on Thursday to join the OPEC+ alliance, the group of oil-producing countries which includes thirteen members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and ten allied producing nations, including Russia, Kazakhstan, and Mexico, according to a statement from the group composed of 23 'petrostates'.

The new addition could give the alliance more control over the global oil supply. At a meeting held on Thursday, OPEC+ agreed to intensify its production cuts by 1 million barrels per day, following the fall in crude oil prices and projections of a new surplus next year.

Brazil is currently one of the major players in global crude oil production. The country country averaged 1817.56 thousands of barrels per day (BBL/D/1K) from 1993 until 2023, reaching an all time high of 3274.38 BBL/D/1K in January of 2023, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, cited by Trading Economics website.

Brazilian Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira said President Lula da Silva approved the country's addition to the bloc. "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. Brazil will become the fourth Latin American country to be part of the alliance, following Venzuela, Mexico and Ecuador. The latter country, however, exited in 2020.