ONGC exiting Poco Verde exploration area offshore Brazil

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - ONGC Videsh is withdrawing from the Poco-Verde area in the Sergipe-Alagoas offshore basin where Brazil's state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA recently discovered a new light oil deposit, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

Petrobras, as the company is known, earlier this week announced the oil discovery in a deep-water well in the Poço Verde area in the BM-SEAL-4 exploration block, off the coast of the northern state of Sergipe.

ONGC Videsh, the overseas investment arm of explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp , however, is continuing with its 25 percent stake in Moita Bonita Pad within BM-SEAL-4 block.

ONGC Videsh had assigned its stake in Poco Verde area to Petrobras on Sept. 3 last year after a techno-economic evaluation, it said in a filing to the stock exchange.

"... the process for notification of the partial withdrawal to the regulator is currently in progress," ONGC said.

ONGC Videsh acquired a 25 percent stake in BM-SEAL-4 block in 2007, according to the company's website.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma, editing by David Evans)