Brazil oil company finds 'huge' gas field

Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petrobras said today a "huge" natural gas field has been found a short distance off Rio…

Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petrobras said today a "huge" natural gas field has been found a short distance off Rio de Janeiro's coastline.

According to the company, the Jupiter field could match the recently discovered Tupi oil field in size. Tupi is thought to be one of the largest fields discovered in the past 20 years.

Petrobras estimates Tupi contains between five and eight billion barrels of light oil, although officials said work needs to be done to establish Jupiter's exact dimensions.

The new field is located just 37km from Tupi, some 5,100m below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean and around 290km from Rio de Janeiro.