French company finds more oil off Angola

The French oil company Elf Aquitaine says it has confirmed the discovery of a major new oil field off the Angolan coast.

Elf said tests at the site proved that it was comparable and possibly superior to two others in the area, which are thought to contain at least seven hundred million barrels each.

The full extent of the latest find, which could be linked to the second sitesome two hundred kilometres northwest of the Angolan capital, Luanda, has yet to be determined.

Press reports in France say the Angolan oilfields could boost Elf Aquitaine's underground reserves by twenty per cent.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service