Angola, Total launch new $16b offshore oil platform

Angola and French oil giant Total formally launched a major new offshore oil project Saturday to aid the country's economy that plunged into crisis following oil price dips in 2014.

Project Kaombo, located in the Atlantic ocean 250 kilometres (155 miles) from the capital Luanda, is Angola's most significant offshore venture and cost $16 billion.

Two boats, each more than 300 metres (985 feet) long, will pump crude from six subsea fields spread over an area of 800 square kilometres -- the same surface area as Paris.

A record-breaking 300 kilometre-long network of pipes has been built 2,000 metres down to bring up the hydrocarbons.

The first of the two new vessels, Kaombo Norte, produced oil for the first time in July and will be joined by its sister ship Kaombo Sul in mid-2019.

The infrastructure will produce 230,00 barrels a day once fully operational, equivalent to 15 percent of the country's current production.

Total has led the project in partnership with Angolan state oil company Sonangol, SSI (a joint venture between Sonangol and China's Sinopec), US oil major Esso and Portugal's Galp.