* Brazil oil output at record high - IEA
* OPEC delegates say no formal request made to join
* Comments come days before Brazil oil auction
(Adds comments from industry event in Rio)
By Stephen Kalin, Rania El Gamal and Alex Lawler
RIYADH, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Brazilian President Jair
Bolsonaro said on Wednesday that he wants his country to join
OPEC, a move that would add the most significant new producer to
the oil cartel for years but met with skepticism in Brazil's
energy industry.
The comments come ahead of a massive auction of oil rights
in Brazil, which is boosting output rapidly. OPEC membership
would likely require Brazil to limit oil production, potentially
throwing future expansion plans into doubt.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries groups
top exporter Saudi Arabia and 13 other countries. Since 2017,
OPEC has had a deal with several non-member producers, excluding
Brazil, to limit supply in an effort to bolster prices.
"I personally would very much like Brazil to become a member
of OPEC," Bolsonaro said at an investment conference in Riyadh,
speaking through a translator.
Brazil would be the most significant producer in years to
join OPEC, founded in 1960. The country's current output would
make it OPEC's third-largest producer, far above that of recent
new members such as Congo and Equatorial Guinea.
The Brazilian president said he would have to consult his
economy and energy ministers to ensure they could follow through
if a decision was made.
He said Brazil had larger oil reserves than some OPEC
members and that the country would help stabilise the global
market as it becomes one of the top six producers in the world.
OPEC delegates said membership talks with Brazil were
ongoing, but it had made no formal request to join the group.
Executives at an oil and gas event in Rio de Janeiro poured
cold water on the proposal, including a person at Brazilian
state oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro SA PETR4.SA , or Petrobras,
who suggested Bolsonaro had laid little groundwork for the idea.
"Brazil is going to export more and more oil in coming
years, so of course (joining OPEC) is a possibility ... but
inside Petrobras we never talk about that," said the source,
adding: "I think it's something the president said because he
was in Saudi Arabia."
Press representatives for Petrobras did not immediately
respond to a request for official comment.
OUTPUT RISING
Oil output has been rising rapidly in Brazil from offshore
fields and production surged by 220,000 barrels per day (bpd) in
August to a record 3.1 million bpd, according to the
International Energy Agency.
That would make Brazil the third-largest OPEC producer after
Saudi Arabia and Iraq, pumping the equivalent of more than 10%
of current OPEC output.
Brazil is a bigger producer than the several others that
have joined OPEC or left it in recent years. Ecuador plans to
exit in 2020. Qatar quit this year. Equatorial Guinea joined in
2017 and Congo Republic became a member last year.
Brazilian authorities have approved 14 companies to
participate in a huge oil bidding round next week, in which
total signing bonuses are expected to set a new record above $25
billion, according to national oil regulator ANP. The so-called transfer-of-rights auction, scheduled for Nov.
6, has drawn interest from an array of global oil majors.
"Joining OPEC means cutting production. To say that on the
eve of an auction doesn't make any sense. It's a shot in the
foot. He's going to come back and get an earful from (Economy
Minister Paulo) Guedes," said a senior oil industry source at an
oil and gas event in Rio de Janeiro.