(Ecofin Agency) - BP Angola has announced that the Grande Plutonio production field in Block 18 offshore Angola has achieved a new production milestone of 500 million barrels of oil. The field, with an estimated gross production of 160,000 barrels of oil per day, is shared equally by Sonangol Sinopec International and BP Angola.

Grande Plutonio is 310 metres long and has a storage capacity of 1.77 million barrels, 24 production wells, 22 active water and three gas injection wells and an installed production capacity of 144,000 barrels of oil per day. BP has been in Angola since the 1970s. The Grande Plutonio, which became operational in October 2007, was the first field operated by the British company in the country and includes five distinct fields found between 1999 and 2001. The fields are; Gálio, Crómio, Paládio, Plutónio and Cobalto.

BP Angola has interests in eight blocks in deep and ultra-deep waters and is one of the largest international investors in Angola, with more than $29 billion invested by the end of 2015.

That same year, total net production from main fields was 221,000 barrels of oil per day, Macauhub reports.

Anita Fatunji