Libra Oil Field Reserves Could Be Up to 15B Barrels

Brazil’s oil regulator ANP on Friday said a discovery in the Libra oil field could contain recoverable reserves of up to 15 billion barrels of oil, which would make it larger than all of Brazil’s existing oil reserves combined.

The estimate produced by Gaffney, Cline & Associates said the field’s reserves were between 3.7 billion and 15 billion barrels, “with the most probable estimate being 7.9 billion barrels,” ANP said in a statement.

The ANP said, however, that at the upper end, Libra could contain more recoverable oil than all of the existing proven reserves in Brazil, which total 14 billion barrels.

The oil well drilled at Libra lies 183 kilometers off the coast of Rio de Janeiro, and the water depth is 1,964 meters. So far, the well has been drilled to a depth of 5,410 meters below the seabed, and the ANP expects to reach the maximum depth of 6,500 meters in early December.

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