Brazil on Thursday also announced it is withdrawing 41 blocks of prospective underwater oil extraction territory from an auction of oil blocks to be held this month. It will still put the remaining 261 blocks up for auction but will reserve the most promising areas around the Tupi field for Petrobras.
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Petrobras says the Tupi field, off Brazil's southeastern Atlantic coast, has between 5 billion and 8 billion barrels - equivalent to 40 percent of all the oil ever discovered in Brazil.
Brazil's total oil reserves currently rank 17th in the world, with 14.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent, Petrobras chief executive Sergio Gabrielli said.
Thursday's news of the discovery rocked a country that became a net oil exporter only last year, but must still import light crude oil for the refined products it needs to fuel South America's largest economy. Brazil produces - and exports - mostly heavy crude oil, which has to be mixed with the light oil in refineries.
For a country that went deeply into debt buying foreign oil in the 1970s and 1980s, "this has changed our reality," said Dilma Rousseff, presidential chief of staff.
Petrobras has a 65 percent operating stake in the Tupi field, Britain's BG Group PLC holds 25 percent, and Petroleos de Portugal - a division of Galp Energia SA - holds the remaining 10 percent.
The Brazilian company is expected to release its third-quarter earnings report Friday night.
Petrobras' American depository shares were down US$7.12 (4.85 EUR) to US$109.65 (74.68 EUR) in Friday afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
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