Anglo-Dutch Shell will invest 125 million US dollars in petroleum exploration and production in Brazil this year, a senior official of the company said on Friday.

The investment includes drilling a new probing well in the BC-10 area of Campos maritime basin, off the coast of Espirito Santo, where a heavy-crude deposit has been found, Exploration Manager for Latin America Graeme Smith said.

Shell and Brazil's State-run oil company PETROBRAS have a 35-percent share of the crude deposit each, while ExxonMobil gets 30 percent.

According to Smith, Shell will drill another probing well in BS-4 area of Santos basin, off the coast of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, where 14-15 API degree heavy crude was discovered.

In case of a positive assessment, extraction would start in 2009 in Campos deposit and 2011 in Santos basin.

Shell, which participates in the exploration in 12 Brazilian areas with a petroleum potential, is in charge of oil production in Bijupira/Salema deposit, located in Campos where it extracts 50,000 barrels of oil a day.

The Anglo-Dutch firm will participate in the seventh round of bidding to a number of areas with a potential for petroleum and natural-gas production, organized by the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) of Brazil this year.

Source: Xinhua