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<\/p>\n\n Brazilian oil production and exports have hit record highs this year, largely due to increased demand from China as the US-Iran war continues to reshape global trade and geopolitical relationships.\n <\/p>\n
\n The change highlights a global race for alternative energy sources as Middle East conflict slows oil from the region \u2013 a race that has major repercussions for the price of gas, oil, cooking fuel and other energy for consumers around the world.\n <\/p>\n
\n China\u2019s cultivation of trade ties with Latin America\u2019s largest economy isn\u2019t new. Over the past two decades, the Asian nation has grown its foothold in a part of the world long thought of as the United States\u2019 backyard.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI have in the past called Brazil the winner of the trade wars, and now of this actual war,\u201d Kathryn Rooney Vera, the chief market strategist for financial services company StoneX, told CNN.\n <\/p>\n
\n Brazil\u2019s record-high oil production ramped up after the warring nations closed the Strait of Hormuz. The bottleneck sent China\u2019s total crude imports plunging about 40% between February and May, Rooney Vera noted, \u201cmaking them look elsewhere \u2013 to Brazil.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The significance of Brazil\u2019s expanded role as an alternative global supplier isn\u2019t lost on the Brazilian government. Given \u201cgreater geopolitical instability and risks on the main international supply routes,\u201d Brazil\u2019s Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, said in a statement to CNN, expanded oil production \u201chas greater strategic relevance.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
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\n Brazil\u2019s crude production, largely driven by Chinese demand, rose to a record 4.5 million barrels per day in June, up 19% from a year earlier. And thanks to the rise in the price of oil, the value of oil exports to China more than doubled in the first half of the year to a record $15.1 billion, according to the Brazil-China Business Council.\n <\/p>\n
\n Brazil is positioning itself as a \u201cstable, safe and predictable energy provider,\u201d Silveira told CNN.\n <\/p>\n
\n The war in Iran has choked off the Strait of Hormuz, a key point of transit for what had been about 20% of the world\u2019s oil before the war. The flow of traffic has improved in recent weeks, but as the US and Iran have struggled over control of the strait since last winter, countries around the world have sought alternative energy sources and looked to cut back on energy use.\n <\/p>\n
\n Since the US and Israel attacked Iran at the end of February, global oil prices have jumped 30% to more than $90 per barrel.\n <\/p>\n
\n That\u2019s created an opportunity for Brazil, which has been pushing to expand its role in global energy markets. In 2006, massive oil reserves were found off the coast of Brazil, but that crude lies deep under a thick layer of salt<\/a>, making it technically tricky and expensive to tap.\n <\/p>\n \n But tapping those pre-salt (also called subsalt) reserves is more profitable now for two reasons: technological advances \u2013 and the war-driven jump in global crude prices.\n <\/p>\n \n That means Brazil can ramp up its oil production, and therefore its oil exports, significantly over the coming years.\n <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/gettyimages-2244876879.jpg\")
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