U.S., Brazil zero in on drilling, biofuels in bilateral meeting

fuelfix.com
Posted on April 9, 2012 at 3:48 pm by Puneet Kollipara

An enormous offshore field in territorial waters, the biggest oil discovery in the Western Hemisphere in 30 years, has Brazilians saying, "Drill, baby, drill, " while environmentalists worry the forward-thinking nation will take a big leap backward to focus on crude. (AP Photo/Ricardo Moraes)President Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said Monday they hoped to boost cooperation between the nations on energy matters ranging from oil and gas development to renewable power.

Following a bilateral meeting between the two leaders in Washington, the two zeroed in on oil and natural gas and biofuels as areas on which they saw promise for additional cooperation. The two nations both engage in deepwater drilling and are far and away the world’s largest producers of ethanol, which is increasingy being used in transportation fuel.

“Brazil has been a extraordinary leader in biofuels, and obviously is also becoming a world player when it comes to oil and gas development,” Obama said, according to an event transcript. “And the United States is not only a potential large customer to Brazil, but we think that we can cooperate closely on a whole range of energy projects together.”

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