Brazil Plans to Sign Deal to Produce Oil in Cuba

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visits Cuba Thursday to meet with President Raul Castro and preside over the signing of an agreement that would allow Brazil to produce oil in Cuba.

Cuba's Communist Party Granma newspaper reported Thursday that Brazil's state-run oil company, Petrobras, will sign the deal on deep-water exploration with Cuba Petroleos, but gave no other details.

President da Silva will be traveling to Cuba from El Salvador, which is hosting the 18th Ibero-American summit of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

It is not clear, however, whether the Brazilian leader will visit former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has not been seen in public since undergoing intestinal surgery in July 2006.

The two men last met when Mr. da Silva visited Cuba in January to sign a deal offering the island millions of dollars in food and financial aid in exchange for the rights to explore for oil off its coast.

Several foreign oil companies have already made exploration deals with Cuba.