Colombia's Ecopetrol makes oil find in U.S. Gulf of Mexico

Colombia's Ecopetrol and two U.S. joint venture partners have discovered oil and gas at a deep-water well in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the Bogotá based firm said thursday.

The discovery is the second by the venture made up of U.S. firms Apache and Stone Energy and Ecopetrol America, the Colombian state oil company's U.S. subsidiary, in an area Ecopetrol described as "one of the world's greatest hydrocarbon prospectivity zones."

Ecopetrol said in a press release that the find was made at the Parmer Prospect, located in the Green Canyon blocks 823 and 867.

The well was drilled to a depth of 5,760 meters (18,900 feet) and the data indicate a column with signs of gas and condensate and another with signs of crude, the spokesperson said.

The state-owned firm added that Apache, Stone Energy and Ecopetrol America will reprocess 3-D seismic data in the coming months and "determine a comprehensive delimitation and development plan based on the results."

The Parmer Prospect, in which Ecopetrol has a 30 percent stake and Apache is the operator, is located some 230 kilometers (143 miles) from the Louisiana coast and covers a roughly 46.6-sq.-kilometer (18-sq.-mile) area.

In its press release, Ecopetrol said the find is part of the firm's "internationalization strategy" and marks a further step in its bid "to attain a production level of 1 million clean barrels of oil equivalent a day by 2.015, and 1.3 million clean barrels by 2.020."

In addition to Colombia and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, Ecopetrol also has operations in Brazil and Perú.