Sth America and Caribbean hold 20% of recoverable oil - report

More than 20 per cent of the world's undiscovered, technically recoverable conventional oil is in South America and the Caribbean, according to the US government.

A report from the US Geological Survey on world oil and natural gas found of the 565 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable conventional oil, 126 billion barrels are in South American and the Caribbean.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met this week with Brazilian Minister of External Relations Antonio de Aguiar Patriota. The countries in February signed an agreement to advance cooperation in biofuels.

US Energy Secretary Ken Salazar will go to Brazil this week to discuss offshore energy safety.

"While we continue to focus our efforts on ways to continue to grow domestic energy production for America and further reduce our dependence on foreign oil, better knowledge of untapped resource potential all around the world will help us make better decisions regarding both domestic and global energy policy and resource management," Salazar said in a statement.

The USGS survey didn't include the US or resources like shale oil and natural gas.