PBR, Petrobras Finds 5Tcf Natural Gas Reserve and Buys Chevron Chile

Peruvian President Alan García, said that Petrobras may have made a discovery of up to 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in block 58 in the Amazon region of Brazil. If confirmed, the discovery could meet the gas requirements of Peru until 2050.

"I received information directly from a jungle that Block 58 has a large amount of gas," Garcia said. He said that should receive more confirmation on Friday of Block 58, which is an area of relatively new operation.

Garcia said the discovery of possibly four to five trillion cubic feet of new reserves was made in the well Urubamba, one of five block 58.

"If this is confirmed - and it seems that the first well is more than one trillion cubic feet of gas and this is just one of five wells or structures - we can say that we have a boost in energy security."

The president said that Peru currently has up to 15 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in its south blocks - up to three trillion cubic feet in Block 56, more than nine trillion in block 88 and two trillion in block 57. The information is of Dow Jones.

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Chevron Chile

PBR announced it signed an agreement for the purchase of Chevron Chile, which produces lubricants, for about $ 12 million. According to a statement, Chevron Chile owns a 6% in the Chilean market for finished lubricants branded Texaco. With the acquisition of the Texaco brand will no longer be marketed in the country and will be replaced by Lubrax, PBR's brand. The plant in Santiago has a production capacity of 15.9 thousand cubic meters per year of lubricants.

Petrobras already has a significant presence in the area of distribution of lubricants in Latin America. The company already has operations in Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay, with approximately 1,200 service stations in total. Last year, Petrobras had already acquired in the operations of Chile's ExxonMobil fuel distribution, a deal involving 230 service stations plus bases of distribution of aviation fuel at 11 airports.

The Brazilian company expects to complete in a month's purchase of Chevron Chile, with the full transfer of controlling interest. The operation includes, in addition to lubricants plant in Santiago, 23 tanks for storage of raw materials and finished products. Petrobras said the deal includes the transfer of use of the mark, the formulation of Texaco lubricants and procurement of commodities between Petrobras and Chevron (United States). "Thus, it will ensure continuity of products for a period of 24 months, time will allow the transition to the brand of lubricants Lubrax, Petrobras, the company said in a statement.