Brazil Won't Consider US Sanctions When Assessing Projects With Russia

HOUSTON (Sputnik) - Brazil respects international decisions but will not take US Sanctions into account when considering possible new projects with Russia, Brazil’s Secretary Of Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels Marcio Felix Carvalho told Sputnik on the sidelines of the CERAWeek conference on Wednesday.

"No," Carvalho said when asked whether Brazil will take US sanctions into consideration when evaluating new projects with Russia. "The challenge for Russian companies is more related to getting finance to invest in Brazil."

Brazil respects international and UN decisions but relies on its own independence, he added.

He also said that Brazil was waiting for Russia’s participation in the next round of oil exploration and production bids at the end of March.

"We are waiting for their [Russian companies] participation in our next exploration and production bid rounds at the end of this month," the minister said.

Earlier, Brazil energy giant Petrobras CEO Pedro Parente said that the company would be glad to consider expanding cooperation with Russia.

Parente also noted that part of the discussion needs to be government to government "and the discussions with us need to be at the level of companies." CEO said that between Brazil and Russia in the energy sector was not strong, noting that it could be bigger.