AKIPRESS.COM - Brazil, the fastest-growing oil producer outside OPEC, will join talks with the exporters group in Vienna on Saturday about potential cooperation, Bloombergreports.

Oil and Gas Secretary Marcio Felix will leave Friday for the Austrian capital, Brazil’s Energy Minister Fernando Bezerra Coelho Filho said by text message Thursday. Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have already confirmed their participation the meeting, where the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will seek the backing of non-members for production cuts to support oil prices.

Brazil’s participation “is an an unquestionably positive development for getting an agreement that stabilizes market sentiment,” Helima Croft, chief commodities strategist at RBC Capital Markets, said by e-mail. “Right now there is still so much skepticism about the prospects for any agreement. I remain very optimistic because of the increasing signs of economic strains in Saudi and other key producers.”

OPEC’s surprise agreement in Algiers last month to make the first supply cuts in eight years will only make a serious dent in a record oil surplus if producers outside the group join in. Brazil, which is developing huge offshore oil discoveries, will boost output by 290,000 barrels a day next year to 2.9 million a day, the biggest increase of any non-OPEC nation, according to the International Energy Agency. The country didn’t join other major producers in a failed push earlier this year to support prices by freezing output.
Cooperation Essential

OPEC agreed on Sept. 28 to reduce output to a range of 32.5 million to 33 million barrels a day. The accord helped push oil prices to a 15-month high above $50 a barrel earlier this month, although they have subsequently fallen amid doubts the group will follow through on its pledge.