MADRID, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Spanish energy giant Repsol informed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez its latest gas find in the Gulf of Venezuela may be among the largest in the world.
Antonio Brufau, the chairman of Repsol, met with Chavez in Madrid to discuss activity and developments in the Gulf of Venezuela.
Repsol is the operator of the Pearl 1 well with a 50 percent stake in a consortium with Italian energy giant Eni. The reservoir is situated west of Venezuela in waters nearly 200 feet deep.
Repsol says the field could hold as much as 7 million or 8 million cubic feet of gas, or enough to satisfy the gas demand for Spain for more than five years.
Furthermore, the reserve could encompass an area of 12.7 square miles and may be more than 780 feet thick.
Repsol says the discovery is the largest gas find in Venezuela and one of the largest in the world.
It follows the announcement of a substantial find off the coast of Brazil, which Repsol says may hold "tens of thousands" of barrels of oil equivalent.
The Spanish energy giant in 2008 took part in three of the five largest hydrocarbon discoveries in the world.
