Encana Discovered Oil Deposit Offshore Brazil

Canadian firm EnCana discovered an oil deposit offshore in Campos field, in the northern littoral of Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state.

The company reported that the well, dubbed Chinook, has a deposit of 100 million to 200 million barrels of heavy oil, said Moreira.

In a test carried out last week, extraction from the well reached 1,800 barrels. It can reach a daily extraction capacity of 5,000 barrels, said the executive.

"We are happy because heavy-petroleum extraction is our specialty. Perhaps by the end of the year, we'll declare the commercial viability of the discovery," said Moreira.

EnCana has yet to decide whether to export its production or sell it in Brazil, where the market for heavy oil is limited as the majority of refining plants in the country only process light-crude.

In addition to the BMC-7 deposit, EnCana has shares in eight other lots, seven of which are operated by Brazil's state-run oil firm Petrobras.