New York (Platts)--16Nov2009/1146 am EST/1646 GMT

Brazilian independent producer OGX said Monday it estimates that a recent find in the BM-C-41 block offshore Rio de Janiero contains 400-500 million barrels of recoverable oil.

OGX announced the Campos Basin find last week. The company holds a 100% interest in well 1-OGX-2-RJS on the block, and is in 130 meters of water 77 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state.

"As expected, we have identified additional layers containing oil in the well OGX-2A, confirming the significant potential of the area. The drilling is still in progress, as there are other important, deeper objectives to be achieved beyond those already announced," Paulo Mendonca, general executive officer of OGX said in a statement Monday.

The find in BM-C-41 is the third for OGX since 2007 and the second in the Campos Basin. The other find was in the Santos Basin in a field operated by Maersk Oil.

OGX is also exploring for oil in the Para-Maranhao and Parnaiba basins, and expects new discoveries to be announced in upcoming weeks, the company said last week in a conference call.

--Kelly MacMath, kelly_macmath@platts.com