Spain's Repsol makes major oil find in Gulf of Mexico

Spanish energy company Respol said Monday it made what it said was a significant discovery of oil in the U.S. waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The company said it ran through a 492-foot thick column of oil about 200 miles off the coast in Louisiana in the ultra-deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The company made the discovery in the Leon well in the Keathley Canyon 642 block.

Repsol's declaration comes less than a week after claims of a similar significant discovery of oil from U.S. energy company Chevron in the same Keathley Cameron reserve area.

"With the Leon discovery, Repsol continues to strengthen its position in the United States, which is one of the company's key strategic areas," the company said in a statement.

The BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 put drilling operations in the region on hold temporarily.

Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced more than 40 million acres off the southern U.S. coast will go on the auction block in March as part of a five-year lease program ending in 2017.