RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's state-owned oil and gas company Petrobras has discovered evidence of hydrocarbons in ultra-deep water in the Persian Gulf off the coast of Iran, company officials said Friday.

    Jorge Zelada, Petrobras' international area director, said the next step will not be determined until the company finishes its analysis of the evidence, which will take two to three months.

    Petrobras signed a contract in 2004 to develop exploration projects in the Persian Gulf off Iran. The company so far has invested 100 million U.S. dollars in the drilling of two wells, Zelada said.

    He said the type of partnership with Iran has not been discussed yet and will be determined only if the discovery proves to be of commercial value.

    "We set a deal to make the drilling, but we did not sit to discuss any other future steps," Zelada said.

    Petrobras has been increasing its presence abroad in recent years. The company recently announced that its international investments will reach 15.9 billion U.S. dollars between 2009 and 2013, 79 percent of which will be concentrated on exploration and production.