May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's remarks that the country should join the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries may be a bit of bragging rather than a serious comment on where Brazil may be headed, the Financial Times said in its ``Lex'' column.

Brazil has 12 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, which leaves it not far behind Qatar, the newspaper said. Yet that total is nowhere near Saudi Arabia and Iran, the column said.

Brazil uses a lot of its own oil, so it may be a long way from being a net exporter, the FT said. It may also find that adhering to OPEC quotas hampers its search for foreign investment capital, the newspaper said.

It's hard to see how joining a cartel like OPEC could help bring down the price of oil, as Lula suggested, the FT said.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Altaner in London at daltaner@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 14, 2008 04:30 EDT