Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency (ANP) has approved the inclusion of the Jaspe pre-salt area into the list of blocks to be offered to investors at the country’s forthcoming oil and gas rounds.

Jaspe is a large pre-salt structure located in the prolific Campos basin that is estimated to hold in place volumes of about 2.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

However, the latest exploration wells drilled in pre-salt areas auctioned off by the ANP over the past few years failed to result in any major hydrocarbons discovery.