Brazil approves extension to work in Amazonian energy basin

Brazilian independent energy company HRT said it received the government's consent for a two-year extension to a license in the Amazon jungle.

The National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency granted the two-year license extension for exploration work in so-called Block SOL-T-195, located in the Solimoes basin in the Amazon, the company said Monday.

The petroleum agency, known by its Brazilian initials ANP, said in 2012 the region holds an estimated 2.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent in proven reserves.

The government last week assigned another 6 percent of the working interest in the Solimoes basin to a subsidiary of Russian energy company Rosneft.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Brazilian counterpart, Dilma Rousseff, last week for the signing ceremony for a memorandum of understanding for the monetization of natural gas from the Solimoes projects in the Brazilian jungle.

That transaction was valued at $96 million.