UPDATE 2-Petrobras shuts Brazil platform after accident

(Adds details, company statement)

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Brazilian energy company Petrobras (PETR4.SA)(PBR.N) said on Monday it had halted production at a platform off the coast of Espirito Santo state after an accident that killed one worker and injured two more.

The company said it expected to resume production from the platform in the "coming hours."

Local news agency Globo, citing Petrobras, said a failed valve at the Jubarte oil field caused oil and water to gush out at high pressure late on Sunday, hitting the contractors employed by engineering firm UTC Engenharia.

The state-controlled firm said it was working to restore production at the platform. A spokesman was unable to immediately confirm how the failed valve led to the worker's death.

"Petrobras has already communicated with the relevant bodies and put in place a technical commission to analyze the causes of the accident," it said in a statement on Monday.

"Production at the platform has been temporarily stopped."

The platform was recently inaugurated by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and was the first to pump oil from newly discovered offshore reserves that lie deep beneath a vast layer of salt, which could contain more than 50 billion barrels of crude.

Petrobras began extracting the first subsalt oil in September. The platform was expected to pump 18,000 barrels per day of subsalt crude, as well as producing from another well at shallower depths to which it had already been linked. (Reporting by Denise Luna; Writing by Peter Murphy; editing by Jim Marshall)