Petrobras has discovered a substantial amount of light oil in the pre-salt reservoirs in the Santos Basin in Brazil, it has emerged.

Covering an area of approximately 300 km2, the total estimated recoverable volume is between three and four billion barrels of light oil and natural gas.

The discovery was first announced on August 7th this year and the prospects have now been revealed.

It has been found that the thickness of the porous oil-bearing reservoirs is better than was initially thought.

Exploration is to continue in the area named the BM-S-11 block, which consists of two wells.

Iara is the name of one of the wells, which is situated around 230 km off the coast from the city of Rio de Janeiro and was where the aforementioned discovery was made.

Tupi is the other well, which was discovered in July 2006.

In related news, Petrobras recently announced a deal with construction and engineering major Larsen and Toubro to supply equipment for its work in Brazil.

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