Total to sink $16 billion in Angolan oil

PARIS, April 14 (UPI) -- French energy company Total said Monday it made a final investment decision to develop the deep water Kaombo project off the coast of Angola.

Total said it opted to reduce the cost of the deep water prospect by $4 billion to $16 billion and operations should start in 2017. The field, which has an estimated 650 million barrels of reserves, should produce 230,000 barrels of oil per day for Angola once operations begin.

Yves-Louis Darricarrere, president of upstream operations for Total, said the streamlined investment shows that Angola remains a core part of the company's portfolio.

"Kaombo illustrates both the group’s capital discipline and objective to reduce capital expenditures," he said in a statement.

The development covers an area of 300 square miles off the Angolan coast, where water depths range from 4,500 feet to 6,200 feet deep.

Angola is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It has 9 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves and produces on average 1.7 million bpd.

Total said its share of production from Angola made it the country's leading oil operator in 2013.

[Total] [OPEC]