State-run Brazilian oil company Petrobras said on Tuesday it had started oil and natural gas production at its ultra-deep field in the U.S. Gulf, 280 miles (450 km) off the coast of Louisiana.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA as the company is officially called said the Jack/St. Malo production platform has can handle 170,000 barrels of oil a day and 1.2 million cubic meters of natural gas, rates that could be increased in the future.

The St. Malo hydrocarbon field is located along a geological formation known as the Walker Ridge in the Gulf of Mexico. The deposit sits 8,077 meters (26,500 feet) from the surface under 2,100 meters of water.

(Reporting by Reese Ewing; Editing by Peter Galloway, Reuters)