Brazil's big oil find

Petrobras, the state run Brazilian oil behemoth, has just found a huge store of oil in the Atlantic. CNN reported that the source could provide the South American nation with "between 5 billion and 8 billion barrels -- equivalent to 40 percent of all the oil ever discovered in Brazil."

According to Petrobras chief executive, Sergio Gabrielli, this find could make Brazil one of the world's top ten oil producers, placing it between Venezuela and Nigeria.

Brazil is not a member of OPEC, and I am sure that right now a U.S. diplomat is flying down to Brasilia with a suitcase full of incentives, to make sure that it stays out of that club.

This is great for Brazil; the country is already a net-exporter of oil thanks to ethanol and natural gas initiatives, and the new cache of oil will only bring more capital and investment into the economy.

It is also HUGE for the U.S. Think of all the risks currently associated with the nations that we buy our oil from: terrorists in the Middle East, armed juntas blowing up refineries in Nigeria, a populist dictator running the show down in Venezuela...

Now we have a major potential partner in Brazil: think basa nova, carnival, the girl from Ipanema, Brazilian waxes.

The only threats in Brazil (discounting, of course, the rampant poverty, corruption, and gang warfare...) are bad sunburns, nasty hangovers, and those guys strutting around the beach in thong-style Speedos.

In the end, what we have is very stable oil exporter that is virtually next door - or atleast closer than Saudi Arabia. It's good for Brazil, the US, and the entire Western Hemisphere.