Shares of BPCL and Videocon Industries are trading firm after news reports that a huge block of oil has been discovered off the Brazilian coast.
The block is 60 per cent owned by Petrobras and 40 per cent by IBV Brasil, a 50:50 joint venture of BPCL and Videocon Industries Ltd.
In confirmation of an earlier Reuters report that sent the two stocks rising since trading began today, Videocon Industries said the report had shown that the block was likely to hold more than a billion barrels of oil, making the area possibly Brazil’s ‘biggest new oil frontier’.
VIL said the SEAL-11 block and adjacent areas off the Brazilian coast “may hold more than 3 billion barrels of oil in place”. If confirmed, that would make the block off the coast of the Brazilian state of Sergipe “one of the biggest global discoveries of the year”.
VIL said if the area proved to have 3 billion barrels or more in place, it could produce one billion barrels based on a Brazilian recovery rate of 25-30 per cent of oil.
Shares of BPCL flared up to Rs 339.80 on the BSE before easing to Rs 326.55, a gain of Rs 16.80, in the BSE. Videocon shares were up by Rs 13.50 at Rs 183.40. This stock also touched a high of Rs 186.55 before declining marginally.