Venezuela Offers BRICS Its (Enormous) Hydrocarbon Reserves
Venezuela may join BRICS as early as October 2024
Venezuela, one of the world’s richest countries in gas and oil reserves, announced that it is ready to “contribute its hydrocarbon resources to the ‘portfolio’ of the BRICS group of countries, which this Latin American country intends to join as soon as possible.” According to Joaquín Pérez Ayestarán, Venezuela’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, “we have the largest certified oil resources in the world, which will add to the basket of products that BRICS as a whole will be able to offer.”
The confirmed natural gas reserves found in Venezuela’s bowels amount to an astronomical 6.3 trillion cubic meters, placing the country 6th in the world, while oil reserves reach approximately 305 billion barrels, equal to 17.5% of the world’s total oil resources.
Ayestarán again suggested that Caracas’s entry into BRICS “will be formalized at the next summit of the heads of state of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates.” “This will be an absolutely welcome move for Venezuela. But even if that were not the case, we will continue to promote our proposal and our commitment to be an active player in this new world,” the diplomat emphasized. He recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin invited his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolas Maduro to the BRICS summit to be held on October 23 and 24 in Kazan, Russia.
The economy of Brazil, one of the founding countries of BRICS, also has good prospects. According to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Brazil’s economy should end 2024 with growth of 1.8% and then 1.9% next year.
In the monthly report, OPEC reiterated its 2024 forecast for “an increase in Brazil’s liquid fuel supply by 100,000 bpd, to an average of 4.3 million bpd.” By 2025, a 180,000-bpd increase in production is expected to provide an average of 4.5 million bpd of fuel. OPEC estimates that Brazil, along with the USA and Canada, will need to be one of the “major growth engines” for global fuel supplies in both 2024 and 2025.
