November 2007
RIO
DE
JANEIRO,
Brazil
(AP)
-- A
huge
offshore
oil
discovery
could
raise
Brazil's
petroleum
reserves
by a
whopping
40
percent
and
boost
this
country
into
the
ranks
of
the
world's
major
exporters,
officials
said.
A gas station worker refuels a taxi with natural gas at a Petrobras gas station Thursday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The
government-run
oil
company
Petroleo
Brasileiro
SA,
or
Petrobras,
said
the
new
"ultra-deep"
Tupi
field
could
hold
as
much
as 8
billion
barrels
of
recoverable
light
crude,
sending
Petrobras
shares
soaring
and
prompting
predictions
that
Brazil
could
join
the
world's
"top
10"
oil
producers.
Petrobras
President
Sergio
Gabrielli
said
Thursday
the
oil
from
ultradeep
areas,
including
the
Tupi
field,
would
give
Brazil
the
world's
eighth-largest
oil
and
gas
reserves.
"Brazil's
reserves
will
lie
somewhere
between
those
of
Nigeria
and
those
of
Venezuela,"
Gabrielli
said
at a
news
conference.
Petrobras
says
the
Tupi
field,
off
Brazil's
southeastern
Atlantic
coast,
has
between
5
billion
and
8
billion
barrels
--
equivalent
to
40
percent
of
all
the
oil
ever
discovered
in
Brazil.
Brazil's
total
oil
reserves
currently
rank
17th
in
the
world,
with
14.4
billion
barrels
of
oil
equivalent,
Gabrielli
said.
Thursday's
news
of
the
discovery
rocked
a
country
that
became
a
net
oil
exporter
only
last
year
but
must
still
import
light
crude
oil
for
the
refined
products
it
needs.
Brazil
produces
--
and
exports
--
mostly
heavy
crude
oil,
which
has
to
be
mixed
with
the
light
oil
in
refineries.
Petrobras'
American
depository
shares
jumped
$24.03
to
$116.77
on
the
New
York
Stock
Exchange
to
close
at a
52-week
high.
In
Brazil,
Petrobras
shares
ended
14.1
percent
higher
Thursday
at
80.17
reals
($45.94)
in
Sao
Paulo.
"If
this
is
confirmed,
we
will
no
longer
be a
'medium'
country,
pursuing
self-sufficiency
and
exporting
a
little.
It
will
transform
the
nation
to
another
level,
with
exporting
properties
like
Venezuela,
Arab
nations
and
others,"
said
Dilma
Rousseff,
presidential
chief
of
staff.
For
a
country
that
went
deeply
into
debt
buying
foreign
oil
in
the
1970s
and
'80s,
"this
has
changed
our
reality,"
she
said.
Rousseff
also
announced
that
Brazil
was
withdrawing
41
blocks
of
underwater
territory
from
an
auction
of
312
prospective
oil
blocks
to
be
held
this
month.
The
country
still
will
put
the
remaining
261
blocks
up
for
auction
but
will
reserve
the
most
promising
areas
around
the
Tupi
field
for
itself.
The
Tupi
field
lies
under
2,140
meters
(7,060
feet)
of
water,
more
than
3,000
meters
(almost
10,000
feet)
of
sand
and
rocks,
and
then
another
2,000-meter
(6,600-foot)
thick
layer
of
salt.
The
company
drilled
test
wells
that
lie
under
2,166
meters
(7,100
feet)
of
water,
286
kilometers
(177
miles)
south
of
Rio
de
Janeiro.
Getting
that
oil
out
of
the
Earth's
crust
is a
formidable
challenge,
but
most
of
Brazil's
oil
lies
off
its
Atlantic
coast,
and
Petrobras
has
become
a
global
leader
in
ultradeep
offshore
oil
extraction.
Felipe
Cunha,
an
oil
analyst
with
the
Sao
Paulo-based
brokerage
Brascan,
said
the
Tupi
field
guarantees
Brazil's
oil
output
will
continue
to
grow.
"If
the
best-case
scenario
happens,
this
discovery
would
make
Petrobras'
reserves
overcome
those
of
Shell
and
Chevron
and
put
Petrobras
behind
only
Exxon
and
British
Petroleum,"
Cunha
said.
Petrobras
has
a 65
percent
operating
stake
in
the
field,
Britain's
BG
Group
PLC
holds
25
percent,
and
Petroleos
de
Portugal
holds
the
remaining
10
percent.
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