Rio, November 21, 2002 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The National Petroleum Agency (ANP) received a communication from Shell of Brazil, announcing the discovery of a new oil deposit in the Campos Basin. The discovery was made in an area denominated Campos Basin 10 (BC-10), during the drilling of the Shell-11 well.

Tests confirmed the existence of high quality oil, and preliminary estimates indicate reserves in excess of 150 million barrels. The consortium which retains the rights to explore the area includes Petrobras (35%) and Esso (30%), in addition to Shell (35%), operator of the BC-10.

According to the ANP, this is the sixth discovery announced by Shell in the BC-10. However, this time the oil is of better quality than in previous discoveries, whose reserves were estimated at around 330 million barrels. The total of Shell's discoveries in the BC-10 is around 480 million barrels. (DAS)