BP has made its largest oil and gas discovery in 25 years offshore Brazil, it said on Monday, in a potential big boost for the British company following its strategic shift away from renewable energy to refocus on fossil fuels.

bp drilled exploration well 1-BP-13-SPS at the Bumerangue block, located in the Santos Basin, 404 kilometres (218 nautical miles) from Rio de Janeiro, in a water depth of 2,372 metres. The well was drilled to a total depth of 5,855 metres.

BP has made its biggest oil discovery in a quarter of a century off Brazil’s Atlantic coast, in a big boost for the beleaguered oil giant mired in a battle to turn around years of underperformance. The petrochemicals giant’s head of production and operations,