VITORIA, Brazil (AP) - Brazil's state-run oil company has begun tapping massive oil reserves recently found under a thick layer of salt beneath the ocean floor.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Petroleo Brasileiro SA officials were on hand Tuesday for the ceremonial extraction of the first pre-salt oil.

Production is beginning at the Jubarte field off the coast of Espirito Santo state, northeast of Rio de Janeiro. Bigger fields lie elsewhere off Brazil's coast.

Some analysts say the reserves could contain 55 billion barrels of oil - an amount that would catapult Brazil to superpower oil status.