C
Captain Compassion
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Brazil discovers huge oil reserves
From correspondents in Rio de Janeiro
November 09, 2007 02:25pm
http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,22730122-31037,00.html
BRAZIL has discovered huge new petroleum reserves in its south that
could turn the country into one of the biggest oil producers in the
world, the government and its state-controlled oil company has
announced.
If one of the deposits turns out to be as vast as it appears, Brazil
will be in the same league "as the Arab countries, Venezuela and
others," the senior minister in charge of the cabinet, Dilma Rousseff,
said.
Petrobras, Brazil's national oil company, said in a statement that
exploration of its Tupi field, offshore Sao Paulo state, revealed it
could produce up to eight billion barrels of light oil and natural
gas.
It said that find, along with another potential field still being
explored farther south, could propel Brazil "among the countries with
the biggest oil and gas reserves in the world."
The head of Petrobras, Jose Sergio Gabrielli, told a media conference
in Rio de Janeiro that Brazil's total reserves could now place it
"between Nigeria and Venezuela".
Shares in the company soared on the news, closing 14.57 per cent
higher at 93.40 reais ($58) on the Sao Paulo stockmarket.
Petrobras' previous stated reserves, given at the end of 2006, were
the equivalent of 11.46 billion barrels of oil.
The Tupi find alone could boost that by 50 per cent. Petrobras
operates the Tupi area, of which it holds 65 per cent.
British energy group BG holds a 25 per cent share in the field and
Portugal's Petrogal-Galp Energia holds 10 per cent.
Petrobras also holds the lion's share of interest in the other field
being tested.
The Brazilian government said no more parts of the new field would be
licensed out until a full evaluation was in. It said this was in "the
public interest."
The discoveries are a significant fillip for Brazil, coming at a time
that the price of oil is sitting at a record high and heading towards
$US100 per barrel.
An analyst at the Brazilian Centre for Infrastructure, Adriano Pires,
agreed that "this is good news."
But he noted that the Tupi field, 250km offshore, lies in very deep
water, which will make extraction "very expensive."
At best, he said, production would begin in around four or five years'
time.
"It's only viable if oil prices stay high," he said.
The Brazilian state holds a 55.7 per cent of the shares with voting
rights in Petrobras, giving it effective control of the energy giant,
which currently pumps out nearly two million barrels of oil a day.
--
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to
escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. -- Marcus Aurelius
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
From correspondents in Rio de Janeiro
November 09, 2007 02:25pm
http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,23636,22730122-31037,00.html
BRAZIL has discovered huge new petroleum reserves in its south that
could turn the country into one of the biggest oil producers in the
world, the government and its state-controlled oil company has
announced.
If one of the deposits turns out to be as vast as it appears, Brazil
will be in the same league "as the Arab countries, Venezuela and
others," the senior minister in charge of the cabinet, Dilma Rousseff,
said.
Petrobras, Brazil's national oil company, said in a statement that
exploration of its Tupi field, offshore Sao Paulo state, revealed it
could produce up to eight billion barrels of light oil and natural
gas.
It said that find, along with another potential field still being
explored farther south, could propel Brazil "among the countries with
the biggest oil and gas reserves in the world."
The head of Petrobras, Jose Sergio Gabrielli, told a media conference
in Rio de Janeiro that Brazil's total reserves could now place it
"between Nigeria and Venezuela".
Shares in the company soared on the news, closing 14.57 per cent
higher at 93.40 reais ($58) on the Sao Paulo stockmarket.
Petrobras' previous stated reserves, given at the end of 2006, were
the equivalent of 11.46 billion barrels of oil.
The Tupi find alone could boost that by 50 per cent. Petrobras
operates the Tupi area, of which it holds 65 per cent.
British energy group BG holds a 25 per cent share in the field and
Portugal's Petrogal-Galp Energia holds 10 per cent.
Petrobras also holds the lion's share of interest in the other field
being tested.
The Brazilian government said no more parts of the new field would be
licensed out until a full evaluation was in. It said this was in "the
public interest."
The discoveries are a significant fillip for Brazil, coming at a time
that the price of oil is sitting at a record high and heading towards
$US100 per barrel.
An analyst at the Brazilian Centre for Infrastructure, Adriano Pires,
agreed that "this is good news."
But he noted that the Tupi field, 250km offshore, lies in very deep
water, which will make extraction "very expensive."
At best, he said, production would begin in around four or five years'
time.
"It's only viable if oil prices stay high," he said.
The Brazilian state holds a 55.7 per cent of the shares with voting
rights in Petrobras, giving it effective control of the energy giant,
which currently pumps out nearly two million barrels of oil a day.
--
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to
escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. -- Marcus Aurelius
Wherever I go it will be well with me, for it was well with me here, not
on account of the place, but of my judgments which I shall carry away
with me, for no one can deprive me of these; on the contrary, they alone
are my property, and cannot be taken away, and to possess them suffices
me wherever I am or whatever I do. -- EPICTETUS
Joseph R. Darancette
daranc@NOSPAMcharter.net
