Brazil Navy plans maneuvers to defend new oil find

By Eduardo Simoes

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil's armed forces will hold maneuvers next month to show they are capable of defending new offshore oil reserves that could convert the country into a global energy player, a senior official said on Friday.

The state-owned oil company Petrobras made headlines last November when it discovered a deposit with estimated reserves of 5 to 8 billion barrels, the world's second-biggest discovery in 20 years. The find could make Brazil one of the top 10 producers in the world, Petrobras said.

Since then some nationalist politicians and officers have raised concerns that other countries could possibly challenge Brazil's sovereignty over the reserves.

"We don't have a likely challenger or enemy. Within a modern view of planning, you send a signal to the international community -- I am prepared," Admiral Edlander Santos, who will command the maneuvers, told Reuters.

"It's an important sign because it prevents people from turning into possible challengers," Santos said in a telephone interview.

Santos downplayed the reestablishment of the United States Fourth Fleet 58 years after the U.S. Navy had decommissioned it. The Fourth Fleet is to help combat drug trafficking and offer humanitarian relief in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The United States has said it would respect Brazil's territorial seas and exclusive economic zones, which include the oil reserves.

As part of Operation Atlantic maneuvers on September 12-26, the Brazilian armed forces will simulate an attack by a fictitious enemy on oil drilling facilities such as platforms and pipelines in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Espirito Santos states and off shore.