Petrobras sees $300 mln Turkey Black Sea investment

ISTANBUL May 21 (Reuters) - Brazilian oil and gas company Petrobras (PETR4.SA) sees its investments in the Black Sea totaling $300 million over the next two years, International Director Jorge Zelada said on Thursday.

Petrobras agreed this year to explore two wells with Turkish petroleum firm TPAO off the Turkish coast.

"We are planning investments of $300 million in exploration activities in the Black Sea in 2009 and 2010. This is the cost of the two wells," said Zelada on the sidelines of a conference in Istanbul.

Net energy importer Turkey has been in talks with oil majors such as Chevron Corp (CVX.N) and Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) for exploration in the Black Sea and southeastern regions, which Ankara hopes will yield resources to help it cut its dependence on foreign oil.

TPAO sees the Black Sea yielding as much as 10 billion barrels of oil and 1.5 trillion cubic metres of natural gas. Production from the Black Sea can begin between 2017 or 2018 if drilling is started in the next three years, the state-owned company has said. (Reporting by Tolgahan Ozkan; Editing by William Hardy) (Writing by Thomas Grove)