Repsol YPF announces huge natural gas find in Venezuela

Spain's Repsol YPF said Friday it has made a natural gas discovery in Venezuela that is the biggest in the company's history and one of the largest in the world.

The offshore Perla I well, which Repsol discovered as part of an exploration partnership with Italy's Eni, could contain between 7 and 8 trillion cubic feet of gas, or enough to supply Spain's needs for five years.

The deposit, the largest ever discovered in Venezuela, is located in shallow waters off the country's northwestern coast at a depth of 60 meters (200 feet). It is situated within the Cardon IV block, which Repsol has been developing since 2006, and could have a surface of 33 square kilometers (13 square miles) and a thickness of 240 meters (785 feet).

These figures, however, must still be confirmed through additional tests.

Repsol is the operator of the well in consortium with Eni and both have a 50 percent stake, but in the production phase state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela S.A. will take a 35 percent stake, leaving Repsol and the Italian company with 32.5 percent each.

Repsol Chairman Antonio Brufau and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is on an official visit to Spain, held an informal meeting Friday in Madrid in which the two discussed the company's presence in the country and celebrated the huge gas find.

After meeting Friday with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Chavez was quoted by Madrid daily El Pais as saying the discovery is something "very positive" for Venezuela and Spain.

The Venezuelan leader said that as more discoveries are made the Andean nation will become "one of the world's five biggest gas producers worldwide."

On Tuesday, the consortium made up of Repsol, Brazil's Petrobras and BG Group announced that the Guara field off Brazil's southeastern coast - discovered last July - has estimated reserves of between 1.1 billion and 2 billion barrels of light crude, equivalent to two years of consumption in Spain. EFE

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