(This story has been corrected to clarify that Brazil hosted G20 meeting last year in paragraph 3)

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

LAGOS (Reuters) -Nigeria is discussing exploration of its deep water oil acreage with Petrobras, years after the Brazilian oil giant exited the west African nation, Nigeria's Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar said.

"Petrobras is no longer active in Nigeria, but they are very keen on coming back to Nigeria. They said they want frontier acreage in deep waters," Tuggar was quoted in a statement from the vice president's office as saying.

Brazil is due to host the BRICS summit and COP30 this year after hosting the G20 meeting last year.

Nigeria plans to promote investment at these summits as the African nation seeks to deepen ties with Brazil in areas such as energy, health, culture, and agriculture.

The Brazilian state energy firm said in February it was in talks with companies including existing partners ExxonMobil, Shell, and TotalEnergies, to buy a share of their African assets.

Petrobras began operations in Nigeria in 1998 in the deep waters off the coast of the Niger Delta. But it sold off its stakes more than 10 years ago to raise cash for domestic projects.

(Writing by Chijioke Ohuocha; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)