Brazil's prospects of becoming a leading oil producer increased yesterday when it emerged that a giant offshore field could be double the size of BP's discovery last week in the Gulf of Mexico.
Petrobras, the national oil company, reported that the Guará field contained the equivalent of 1.1bn to 2bn barrels of recoverable oil and gas. BP's Tiber field, which BP called a “giant” discovery last week, is unofficially estimated to contain 500m-1bn recoverable barrels.
The news from Petrobras pushed up the share prices of BG and Repsol, the UK and Spanish oil companies that are partners in developing Guará. The field could enter production as soon as 2012.