(Reuters) – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Friday while paying an official visit to Beijing that he invited China to participate in an offshore oil bidding round scheduled for early November.
Fourteen companies have been officially approved by Brazilian authorities to participate in an oil auction on Nov. 6, in which total signing bonuses are expected to be the biggest so far, exceeding $25 billion.
Two Chinese companies are among the ones allowed to participate: China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Co (CNODC), a unit of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) [CNPET.UL], and China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC).
“Many acts were signed in infrastructure and agriculture areas, besides an invitation to China for participating in our massive oil and gas auction,” Bolsonaro wrote in his Twitter account on Friday, posting a video of his meeting with China’s Xi Jinping.
In the meeting, the Brazilian President once again reiterated his interest in strengthening trade ties with China. “Today we can say that a significant part of Brazil needs China, and China also needs Brazil.”
China is Brazil’s largest trade partner and the biggest source of foreign investment. In 2018, bilateral trade between the two countries hit a record of 100 billion reais ($24.84 billion).
(Reporting by Pedro Fonseca in Rio de Janeiro; Writing by Gabriela Mello; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
