Brazil is set to become a net oil exporter and top 10 producers from 2015 if it overcomes hurdles to developing its giant offshore discoveries.

CEOAFRICA gathered this statement according to report by West’s energy agency on Tuesday.

In its 2013 World Energy Outlook, the International Energy Agency (IEA), which advises large industrialized nations on energy policy, said Brazil could play a major role in supplying the world’s energy needs in coming decades, though its rise would hinge on its ability to develop its resources.

“Brazil plays a central role in meeting the world’s oil needs through to 2035, accounting for one-third of the net growth in global supply,” the report said.

Brazil, Latin American’s largest economy, is said to have made several finds in deep water since 2007 and its largest is the Libra field, which holds between 8 and 12 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

According to Brazil’s oil regulator and a Dallas-based reserved certificate firm, “if the projection holds, Libra could nearly double Brazil’s oil reserves or give it enough oil to supply the world’s crude demand for as much as 19 weeks but last month’s sale of Libra, designed to launch Brazil as an oil power, highlighted the challenges the sector faces.”  

However, it attracted a fraction of the interest expected, with major oil companies worried that development rules offered too little opportunity for profit and too large a role for the government and state-controlled Petrobras.