OGX makes another off-shore oil discovery in Brazil

Abundant in natural resources, Brazil is cementing its position as one of the fast growing economies in the world, this time with the discovery of a large crude oil block in the shallow waters of the southern part of the Campos basin.

The nation's largest private sector oil and gas company OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes SA (OGX) announced yesterday that it has identified oil-bearing column in its well OGX-6, adding another success to its oil exploration venture.

The well is located in BM-C-41 block, approximately 82 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro at a water depth of 137 metres. OGX holds 100 per cent interest in the block.

OGX said that so far an oil column of about 70 metres was identified in carbonate reservoirs in the Albian section. The drilling is still continuing and the final planned depth is approximately 3,600 metres. OGX-6 is being drilled by rig Ocean Quest, supplied by Diamond Offshore, which started the operation about a month ago.

"Our review of this data indicates that these accumulations may be connected and that the recently discovered oil province may, in fact, extend to the north of the BM-C-41 block, confirming its very significant potential,'' Paulo Mendonça, OGX's general executive officer said in a statement.

He further said that new data will be collected and new wells will be drilled to map the prospects identified in area.