Petrobras strikes gas, light oil in Espirito Santo

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Brazil's state oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research)(PBR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday it struck natural gas and light oil in two wells in the offshore Espirito Santo basin.

It provided no reserve estimates, but said the finds confirmed high oil and gas potential in the area and should boost recoverable reserves there.

The pioneering 4-ESS-177 well drilled at the water depth of 708 meters (2,322 feet) off the Espirito Santo state coast, in the BM-ES-5 block, found natural gas at a depth of 3,417 meters, Petrobras said. U.S. company El Paso (EP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) is Petrobras' partner in the block with a 35 percent stake.

The same well discovered light oil presence at a depth of 2,416 meters. Petrobras also successfully drilled exploration well 6-ESS-168 in the area, it said.

Last month, Petrobras announced an estimate for recoverable reserves at its giant Tupi field in the subsalt cluster of the Santos basin, putting them at between 5 billion and 8 billion barrels. If confirmed, that would make Tupi the world's second-largest oil find in the past 20 years after Kashagan in Kazakhstan.

The Espirito Santo basin is separated from Santos by the prolific Campos basin, which has been Brazil's main production base for years. (Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Marguerita Choy