RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Detailed information about Brazil's recent oil and gas discoveries was stolen from a container in Rio de Janeiro, the state-owned energy giant Petrobras said Thursday.

    According to the company, the data were stored in a hard disk and two laptops transported from an exploitation platform to Macaein Rio state's northern seashore.

    Thieves broke into the container and stole the equipment, Petrobras said.

    The top secret information was related to discoveries in deep water oil fields, such as the Tupi field, announced last November as the company's biggest reserve and believed to bear oil enough to double the country's production.

    Although Petrobras has the copies of all the data, the oil and gas giant expressed concern over its destination and the use that will be made of it, suspecting industrial espionage.

    The company was informed of the theft on Feb. 1 and notified the Federal Police, who are investigating the case.

    The Tupi oil field, located at a depth of approximately 7,000 meters, has a capacity of producing 8 billion barrels of oil and 30 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.