(BN) Brazil Finds More Signs of Oil at Libra Offshore Field

Brazil Finds More Signs of Oil at Libra Offshore Field
2010-12-28 13:05:06.361 GMT


    (Updates with Libra reserve estimates in third paragraph.)

By Peter Millard
    Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil found more evidence of oil at
the government's Libra offshore field, which may be the largest
oil discovery in the America's in more than three decades.
    Brazil's oil regulator, known as the ANP, found a second
layer of hydrocarbons at Libra, according to records on its
website dated Dec. 27. The regulator first discovered oil at the
field in late October.
    Libra is estimated to hold as much as 15 billion barrels of
recoverable oil, which would eclipse Brazil's total current
reserve base and make it the biggest find in the Americas since
Mexico discovered Cantarell in 1976. The estimate disclosed by
the ANP in October means Libra may hold almost twice as much oil
as state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA's nearby Tupi field.
    Libra is the first field the government plans to auction
next year under the country's new concession model, Magda
Chambriard, a director at ANP, said in September. Petrobras, as
the Rio de Janeiro-based producer is known, will operate all new
concessions in the so-called pre-salt area where Libra and Tupi
were discovered.

For Related News and Information:
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Company Financial Analyis: PETR4 BZ <Equity> FA <GO>

--Editors: Carlos Caminada, James Attwood.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Peter Millard in Rio de Janeiro at +55-21-2125-2531 or
pmillard1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Carlos Caminada at +55-21-2125-2536 or
ccaminada1@bloomberg.net