Thaindian News

Rio de Janeiro, Dec 29 (IANS/EFE) Brazilian oil company OGX has said it found a new presence of hydrocarbons in a well in shallow waters of the Campos basin, off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state.
OGX said Monday in a securities filing that it identified an oil column of more than 180 metres in a well that is in its final drilling stage, adding that the well is located in the BM-C-41 block, in which the company holds a 100 percent stake.

This was the second discovery at the well and the third in that oil block in less a month. The well has an estimated depth of 4,000 metres and it is located some 83 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, where the water depth is around 130 metres.

Over the next few days, the oil firm plans to begin a formation test with the goal of “verifying the characteristics of carbonate reservoirs in dynamic conditions”, the filing said.

OGX, which belongs to Brazilian entrepreneur Eike Batista’s EBX Group, is the largest Brazilian private-sector oil and gas company in terms of offshore exploratory acreage.

The find was made in an area near the BM-C-43 block, where OGX earlier discovered another deposit with an estimated recoverable volume of between 500 million and 1.5 billion barrels of oil.

The oil company, which says production at its licence areas will begin in 2011, has concession to 29 exploration blocks in Brazil, 22 of them offshore.

–IANS/EFE

rd/jg