[Rhodes22-list] More Oil

[Brad Haslett]

Seek and ye shall find! This just announced!  Again, not a US company.  Too
bad the US is only surrounded by water on three sides.  Brad

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BG, Petrobras Find More Oil in Brazil's Santos Basin (Update3)

By Alexander Kwiatkowski and Eduard Gismatullin

June 13 (Bloomberg) -- BG Group
Plc<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=BG%2F%3ALN>,
the U.K.'s third-largest oil and gas company, and Petroleo Brasileiro SA
made a second discovery in Brazil's Santos Basin.

The Guara exploration well struck oil in the BM-S-9 concession area,
according to the partners, which also include Repsol YPF SA. That's in the
same block as the Carioca discovery in September, which Brazil's petroleum
regulator said may contain as many as 33 billion barrels of oil.

``This discovery will yet again stimulate debate as to whether Carioca,
along with Guara, are one and the same massive structure,'' David Thomas, a
London-based analyst at Citigroup Global Markets Inc., said in an e-mailed
report. The prospect ``will not be properly tested until a well is drilled
in the neighbouring BM-S-22 concession'' later this year.

BG rose as 16 pence, or 1.3 percent, to 1,259 pence in London trading.
Repsol increased 31 cents, or 1.2 percent, to 27.11 euros in Spain.

Petrobras, Brazil's state-controlled oil company, plans to invest about
$33.5 billion in projects this year to ramp up production and explore the
offshore fields. That would be the world's largest investment program in the
oil and gas industry, followed by OAO Gazprom which has earmarked $30
billion and Royal Dutch Shell Plc with $27 billion.

Guara and Carioca are ultra-deep wells beneath a salt layer under the seabed
known as pre-salt fields. These fields lie below as much as 10,000 meters
(33,000 feet) of ocean and seabed, forming a new province of Brazilian oil
reserves beneath shallower existing fields.

Tupi Field

BG and Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras are also exploring the Tupi field in
the Santos Basin. Tupi, the biggest discovery in the Americas since 1976,
and the nearby fields may cost $240 billion to exploit, according to
estimates from Peter Wells, director of U.K. research firm Neftex Petroleum
Consultants Ltd. and a former Royal Dutch Shell Plc exploration manager.

``This new discovery extends the very significant potential of this world
class-hydrocarbon province,'' said BG Chief Executive Officer Frank
Chapman<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Frank+Chapman&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>in
the statement. ``We will now continue to advance our evaluation and
development program, targeting initial production from the pre-salt Santos
Basin during 2009.''

The Guara discovery is BG's fifth consecutive drilling success in the
deep-water Santos Basin since the company began drilling there in 2005. BG
has interests in seven concessions in the Santos Basin, the company said
today.

BG has a 30 percent stake in the concession area.
Petrobras<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=PETR4%3ABZ>is the
operator with 45 percent and Spain's Repsol has a 25 percent
interest.

On April 14, Haroldo
Lima<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Haroldo+Lima&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>,
head of Brazil's petroleum regulator, said that Carioca may contain as much
as 33 billion barrels of oil, making it one of the world's largest
discoveries. Petrobras declined to confirm Lima's estimate, which he
attributed to a magazine article, and said the company lacked sufficient
information to make a projection.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexander
Kwiatkowski<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Alexander+Kwiatkowski&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>in
London at
akwiatkowsk2 at bloomberg.netEduard
Gismatullin<http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Eduard+Gismatullin&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1>in
London at
egismatullin at bloomberg.net
*Last Updated: June 13, 2008 11:46 EDT*