Repsol underestimate gasfield find by 30%

Spain's Repsol YPF and Italy's Eni are set to announce that a Venezuelan oil field struck eight months ago has 30% more natural gas than original estimates suggested, the FT reported on Monday.

Citing unnamed industry officials, the paper said the two oil and gas companies had detected recoverable reserves of between 2.1 trillion and 2.4 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez said last year that initial tests indicated the field, dubbed the Rafael Urdaneta project, could hold 7 trillion to 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and recoverable reserves could be around 1.5 to 2.0 tcf.

The strike in the Maracaibo gulf, announced last September, was one of the world's top five gas discoveries in 2009.