Mexico and Brazil are seeking to strengthen their economic ties. Could part of a more robust bilateral relationship be a joint venture between Mexico’s state oil company Pemex and its Brazilian counterpart Petrobras?

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva believes so.

According to Reuters, da Silva told an event last Friday that he had proposed to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum a partnership between Pemex and Petrobras to explore oil in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Pemex could get a great deal of help from Petrobras,” said da Silva, who highlighted the Brazilian company’s longstanding expertise in deepwater oil production.

His remarks came the same day that the foreign ministers of Mexico and Brazil met in Colombia and spoke about the upcoming visit to Mexico by Petrobras president Magda Chambriard. According to the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chambriard will hold meetings with Pemex “with a view to future collaboration.”

Lula, as the 80-year-old Brazilian president is best known, apparently made the Petrobras-Pemex proposal to Sheinbaum during a telephone call earlier this month.

The two leaders spoke on March 9 and Sheinbaum subsequently said she would likely take up Lula’s invitation and visit Brazil later this year.

Sheinbaum likely to visit Brazil this year to strengthen bilateral energy cooperation

The Brazilian president revealed on social media that he and Sheinbaum had discussed strengthening the economic relationship between Brazil and Mexico, particularly in the energy sector.

Founded in 1953, Petrobras already operates in the Gulf of Mexico via a joint venture with Murphy Exploration & Production, according to Reuters.

For its part, Pemex has a joint venture with the Australian company Woodside Energy to develop the ultra-deepwater Trion oil and gas field in the Gulf of Mexico.

A partnership with Petrobras could potentially help Pemex to exploit other deepwater fields in the Gulf of Mexico and thus contribute to the achievement of the government’s goals of self-sufficiency for gasoline and reduced reliance on natural gas imports.

Reuters said that neither Petrobras, Pemex nor Sheinbaum’s office responded to its request for comment on Lula’s proposal.

With reports from Reuters