Rio, 7/15/2004 (Agência Brasil) - Today Brazil's state-run petroleum company, Petrobras, will sign a contract worth US$35 million in Tehran for exploration of oil in that country. The contract marks the return of Petrobrás to the area which it abandoned 25 years ago.

The contract is the result of a winning tender offer by Petrobras to work in the Tousan oil field in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iran for a period of three and a half years.

A Petrobras spokesman explains that Petrobras has done petroleum exploration in three Mideast nations: Iran, Egypt and Iraq. In the latter, in the 1970s, Petrobras discovered one of the world's largest oil fields, with reserves of 8 billion barrels. Petrobras invested US$180 million in the enterprise and received US$337 million in petroleum for its efforts at that time.

In 1979, Petrobras was the last international petroleum company to leave Iraq after Saddam Hussein nationalized its petroleum industry.

Translator: Allen Bennett