MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chavez announces the discovery of a “super well” of natural gas

The Venezuelan leader meets Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced the discovery of a “super well” that shows an offshore field holds almost twice as much natural gas as originally estimated.

The field may hold as much as 14 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, more than the previously reported 8 trillion cubic feet, Chavez said on the weekend on state television, without identifying the gas deposit.

“We have drilled tens of wells in the Caribbean and recently discovered a super well,” Chavez said from Ecuador, where he met with President Rafael Correa. “A super deposit that was at 8 now could be as much as 14 trillion cubic feet.”

Repsol YPF SA struck as much as 7.7 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Gulf of Venezuela, the company said September 11. OAO Gazprom also found “significant quantities” of gas in a nearby field, Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said November 3.

State oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA, PDVSA, has the right to buy a stake in any natural-gas discovery made in the country.

Correa said PDVSA and Petroecuador failed to discover commercially viable amounts of gas after drilling on the island of Puna in Ecuador’s Gulf of Guayaquil. Exploration will continue after additional seismic surveys, Correa said.