Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has stated that the proposed exploration of a new offshore area will enable the country to more than triple its oil reserves over the coming years.

Coming soon after it was announced that the largest discovery made in the Western Hemisphere since 1976 was made off the coast of the South American country, Lula explained that he intends to push the sector forward to enable it to join the top ten global nations in terms of oil supplies.

Given that oil prices broke the $140 a barrel mark for the first time this week, the president is confident that exploration of the oil reservoirs located in the pre-salt area between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo will be economically justifiable, with initial estimates putting reserves there at as much as 50 billion barrels.


Furthermore, he added that he intends that such increased production will enable Brazil to become self-sufficient as well as to export crude abroad.

"I want Brazil to export refined products,'' Lula told Bloomberg Television.

"I'm under no illusion that Brazil will join OPEC. I used to be, but am no longer."

Currently, the state-run oil company Petrobras is investing more than $10 billion on the construction of two new refineries in the country's Campos basin fields.