Huge Gas Discovery to Make Brazil Self-Sufficient

The discovery of a huge gas field off the coast of Rio de Janeiro could make Brazil self-sufficient in natural gas, a Petrobras representative said on Tuesday.

The discovery is located about 5,100 meters below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean.

"If this field has the gas that Petrobras believes it has, it will make Brazil self-sufficient in natural gas," Guilherme Estrella, the company's production and exploration director said at a news conference.

He said it would take Petrobras at least two years to determine if the new find is commercially viable. If so, production would probably not begin before 2014.

Estrella said the reserve, nicknamed Jupiter, covered 1,290 kilometers (516 square miles) — about as big as the ultra-deep Tupi field discovered last November.