Total reaches production milestone in Angola

With 2 billion barrels of cumulative production from an offshore block in Angola, French energy company Total said Wednesday it set the global gold standard.

Total announced it reached the milestone at its offshore Block 17 reserve area, located about 90 miles off the coast of Angola in deep waters.

"Block 17 is a global benchmark in the deep offshore and represents a unique industrial adventure, with 15 discoveries and a very high level of production," Arnaud Breuillac, Total's president of exploration and production," said in a statement.

With more than 700,000 barrels of oil equivalent in production at the start of 2015, the French energy company said it's the lead operator in Angola.

Apart from Block 17, the company holds a 30 percent stake in the Kaombo development, which holds an estimated 650 million barrels of total reserves. Total estimates that field has a total production capacity of 230,000 barrels per day.

In early May, Italian energy company Eni announced it was ahead of the curve with what its partners described as a breakthrough operation offshore Angola.

Eni holds a 20 percent stake in a section of the Kizomba project off the coast of Angola, alongside Norwegian energy company Statoil and BP, both of which hold minority stakes in Kaombo.

Eni estimates Kizomba will have a peak production capacity of around 70,000 bpd.

Angola is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. OPEC said Angola has proven crude oil reserves of 9 billion barrels and 9.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

Total marked 60 years of work in Angola in 2013.