* First Reserve funds Brazil's Barra Energia
* Focus will be shallow water, onshore, not deep
HOUSTON, May 3 (Reuters) - A new Brazilian independent oil company, Barra Energia, will seek to develop prospects in shallow water and onshore Brazil with $500 million in financing from First Reserve Corp, officials said Monday.
Oil industry focus on ultradeep discoveries offshore, and expected tighter Brazilian control over them, make shallow areas attractive, Chairman Joao Carlos de Luca and CEO Renato Tadeu Bertani told Reuters at the Offshore Technology Conference.
"There is so much concentration going to deep water that opportunities are being left behind in shallow water and onshore," Bertani said.
The new company plans to apply new geologic concepts and advanced technology to mature areas of production to increase output, much as new techniques have allowed companies to exploit shale to boost U.S. gas production, Bertani said.
The first deal is months away, and the founding executives declined to predict when they would spud their first well.
"This is how the U.S. keeps reinventing itself," said Will Honeybourne, Houston-based managing director for First Reserve. "We see a lack of well capitalized independents in Brazil. We think there's plenty of room for it."
De Luca, president of the Brazilian Petroleum and Gas Institute, is former president of Repsol YPF Brazil. Bertani, CEO of Thompson & Knight Energy Services, spent 30 years at Petrobras, Brazil's state-sponsored oil company.
First Reserve is a major private equity firm invested in various sectors of the energy industry. (Reporting by Bruce Nichols; Editing by David Gregorio)
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