Petrobras exec says offshore Colombia project could find enough gas for exports

- A promising area off Colombia's coast where Brazil state-run Petrobras PETR4.SA is drilling this year could justify a large project to supply natural gas to the Andean country and for exports, Petrobras' head of exploration and production said on Wednes

HOUSTON, (Reuters) to Petrobras' board for its consideration. If a positive final investment decision is made, first gas could come earlier than the 2029 goal initially set, Mendes said.

Petrobras will wait for the well appraisal results to plan the project's size and gas commercialization, including the possibility of setting up liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, the executive said.

A gas deficit in the Andean country is growing, leading to more purchases of LNG and possibly imports from Venezuela if an idled gas line is repaired. That $40 million project will need authorization from the U.S. Treasury Department, Ecopetrol CEO Ricardo Roa said this week.

Mendes said that despite exploration success outside Brazil, the company will continue to focus on trying to find new frontiers for oil and gas in its basin, including the environmentally sensitive Equatorial Margin.

"According to some scenarios, our production will peak in the next 10 years. We need new discoveries," he said. "Some people think presalt will last forever. It won't."

Petrobras also continues looking at opportunities for exploring in Guyana and Suriname, Mendes said.

WASHINGTON, 0 (Reuters) - U.S. government-chartered helicopter flights began carrying American citizens from the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince yesterday amid rising violence, the State Department said, with a first flight transporting more than 15 people to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

A department spokesperson estimated that more than 30 U.S. citizens a day would be able to depart Haiti on multiple helicopter flights.

Unelected Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced last week that he would resign but a plan supported by Caribbean states and Washington to establish an interim presidential council has yet to be appointed.

Heavily armed groups have taken over much of the capital, and rights advocates have reported widespread killings, kidnappings and sexual violence. More than 360,000 people are internally displaced in Haiti, according to U.N. estimates.

State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said the number of Americans who have filled in an online form asking for information about departing Haiti was approaching 1,600. Not all of those people were requesting help to depart the country and some were inquiring about general safety information, Patel said.

Washington on Sunday organized a charter plane between the city of Cap-Haïtien and Miami, Florida.

"We will also continue to explore operating out of Cap-Haïtien for people to be able to leave from there," the spokesperson said by email.