Brazil announced a big natural gas discovery.

The discovery could double Brazil’s reserves and provide self-sufficiency in this fuel. Petrobras, the state oil company, said production tests from offshore wells drilled 120 miles east of Macae, in Rio de Janeiro state, had established potential recoverable reserves of 180 billion cubic meters. Brazil’s natural gas reserves until now have been 92.7 billion cubic meters. The additional gas would justify building a pipeline from the Campos fields, off Macae, to Sao Paulo, Brazil’s industrial center.