Angola is quite literally swimming in oil following recent discovery of several new huge offshore oil fields.

Oil company BP and its partners have discovered the latest find in block 31 off Angola.

The find is the 17th made in the block, which is operated by BP.  The new find is located in the central northern portion of block 13, some 415 kilometres north-west of Luanda, and about 12 kilometres to the south-west of the Marte field.

State parastatal Sonangol is the concessionaire of block 31, and BP is the operator with a 26.67% interest. Other licensees are Esso (25%), Sonangol (20%), StatoilHydro (13.33%), Marathon (10%) and TEPA (5 %).

Oil provides 90% of Angola’s export revenues, and reserves are estimated at around 10 billion barrels of oil. With the recent discovery of several new enormous offshore oil fields, figures as high as 20 billion barrels are being quoted.