In January 2024, Brazil will join the Charter of Cooperation on OPEC+, an oil-producer group that comprises the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, OPEC said on Thursday.

OPEC said in a statement that Brazil's Minister of Mines and Energy Alexandre Silveira de Oliveira joined the 36th OPEC+ ministerial meeting, held virtually earlier on Thursday.

Brazil is the biggest oil producer in South America and is among the world's top 10 crude producers.

According to OPEC's "2023 World Oil Outlook" report published in October, Brazil currently produces about 3.2 million barrels of crude per day and is expected to see solid medium-term crude production growth.

OPEC had not revealed Brazil's attendance before Thursday's ministerial meeting, which was originally planned in an in-person format on November 26 but later pushed back by four days and moved online.

Analysts expect Brazil's joining of OPEC+ to add the group's influence to the market. OPEC+ now comprises 23 of the world's major oil exporting nations, including 13 OPEC member states and their 10 allies.

OPEC+ was launched in late 2016 in "a concerted effort to accelerate the stabilization of the global oil market," according to the OPEC website.

(Cover: The Duque de Caxias Refinery in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Februray 19, 2021. /CFP)