Vale cleared to buy stake in oil bloc - report

SAO PAULO, March 5 (Reuters) - Brazilian iron ore miner Vale (VALE.N)(VALE5.SA) has been authorized by the state oil regulator ANP to buy a 25 percent stake in an offshore oil and gas bloc owned by state-controlled oil firm Petrobras (PETR4.SA), a local newspaper reported said on Friday.

Petrobras told ANP last week it had discovered natural gas in the bloc, numbered BM-ES-22 and located in the Espirito Santo basin. Vale had reached a deal to buy a stake in the bloc last June, but the transaction needed ANP's approval to proceed, O Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper said.

The gas discovered lies as deep as 7,000 meters (4.4 miles) but the resources are not part of the subsalt reserves that lie beneath a layer of salt rock at a similar depth, the paper said.

Vale owns a stake in other Brazilian blocs in conjunction with Petrobras, Spain's Repsol (REP.MC) and Shell (RDSa.L). (Reporting by Peter Murphy; Editing by Walter Bagley)