MOSCOW, Feb 5 (Reuters) - Brazil has offered Russianstate-owned producer Rosneft possible access to theSouth American's country vast offshore oil and gas deposits,Interfax news agency reported on Tuesday, citing sources closeto the company.
Brazil plans to hold its 11th-round auction of oil andnatural gas rights on May 14 and 15 in Rio de Janeiro,restarting sales of exploration and production leases for thefirst time in five years. It was not clear if the offer bore anyconnection to the auction.
Interfax quoted one source as saying Brazil asked Rosneft toget to know the country's resource base and consider whether itwas worth developing its offshore oil and gas deposits.
"It is possible that Rosneft's officials will gather fortalks in the immediate future," it quoted another source assaying.
A Rosneft spokeswoman declined to comment.
Rosneft is already active in another Latin America country,Venezuela, while its chief executive Igor Sechin, a long-timeally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is keen on expandingthe company's global reach.
Rosneft is in a process of acquiring Anglo-Russian oilproducer TNK-BP for $55 billion, the largest such dealin Russian corporate history. It has signed deals withExxonMobil, Statoil and Eni to tapoffshore oil and gas in Russia's Arctic region.
TNK-BP is exploring for hydrocarbons in Brazil's Solimoesbasin in partnership with a local exploration company, HRTParticipacoes em Petroleo SA.
Brazil halted a decade of annual auctions in 2008 after thediscovery of giant offshore fields in the Santos Basin, bystate-led oil company Petrobras and partners such as GreatBritain's BG Group Plc, Spain's Repsol SA andPortugal's Galp Energia SGPS SA.
BP (BP.)
