Petrobras discovers more oil off Brazil's Amazon coast

Brazilian state oil company Petrobras on Friday announced a new discovery of crude near the mouth of the Amazon river, where it has been drilling for a year despite opposition from environmentalists.

The latest find comes less than two months after Petrobras announced it had first identified the presence of hydrocarbons in the area off the coast of northern Amapa state.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is seeking re-election on Sunday, hailed that find as Brazil's "passport to the future."

The new discovery is located about 180 kilometers (110 miles) off Amapa's coast, the company said in a statement.

"In the case of the discovery announced in August, the analyses carried out confirm the high quality of the oil found," the company added.

Lula has said that while he is against fossil fuels, he believes the world cannot live without them yet, and that oil can finance the transition to clean energy.

Both of Petrobras' discoveries are in a vast maritime region known as the Equatorial Margin, where neighboring Guyana has uncovered enormous oil reserves.

Petrobras' exploration has outraged environmental organizations, which see it as a risk to a region rich in biodiversity, off the coast of the world's largest rainforest.

When it hosted the UN climate conference last year, Brazil called on world leaders to present a "roadmap" for phasing out fossil fuels.

But it has yet to release its own.

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