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Brazil to join OPEC+ but won’t cut oil production, says Petrobras CEO

Jean Paul Prates positively assessed the country's future participation in the partnership, indicating that the move would be key to OPEC's and Brazil's energy transition efforts

LONDON, December 1. /TASS/. Brazil is to join the OPEC+ group of oil-producing countries but will not take part in the group's coordinated output caps, the chief executive of state-run oil firm Petrobras Jean Paul Prates told Reuters.

"We would never be part of an organization that imposes (production) quotas to Brazil, Petrobras is a publicly-traded company and we cannot have quotas," he said.

Prates noted OPEC+ was a group that includes countries with no voting rights and to which production caps are not imposed, which would be the case of Brazil, Reuters wrote.

Nevertheless, he positively assessed the country's future participation in the partnership, indicating that the move would be key to OPEC's and Brazil's energy transition efforts.

Prates said he expects the country to formally accept the invitation to join OPEC+ in June next year, until then it will participate in the organization's meetings as an observer.

Currently, OPEC+ consists of 23 countries, including the world's largest oil producers - Russia and Saudi Arabia. Brazil is also a major player in global oil production. According to the national regulator, oil production in the country now exceeds 3 million barrels per day. In July, OPEC Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais mentioned that he was working to expand the organization.