BP announced that a Notification of Discovery for the Itaipu-2 pre-salt appraisal well, located in block BM-C-32 in the deepwater sector of the Campos Basin, has been lodged with the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency (ANP). The well, approximately 130km offshore Brazil, was drilled to a total depth of 4,877 metres in 1,420 metres water depth. Itaipu-2 delineates the discovery made in 2009-10 in Itaipu-1 some 7km to the northwest.

Itaipu-2 encountered strong shows on drilling including elevated gas, gas wetness and fluorescence within the cuttings. Well logging indicates a fluid contact within the target Upper Sag reservoir comprising a 19 metre gross petroleum-bearing interval overlying good quality porous water-bearing carbonates.

Neil Piggott, BP vice president for exploration Brazil, said: "Further logging operations are on-going and will need to be integrated into the overall interpretation. The next piece of critical appraisal work at Itaipu will focus on retrieving a high quality fluid sample plus evaluating the producibility of the reservoir".

BP is the operator of BM-C-32 with a 40% equity. Other equity holders are Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (33.3%) and Maersk Energia Ltda (26.7%).