Angola rising as major oil supplier

Chevron Corp.'s US$2.3-billion Benguela Belize oil platform, dwarfing the Statue of Liberty at about 550 metres, is an innovation in Africa's Gulf of Guinea, where floating platforms long have held sway.

Drilling some months ago drew the first crude into the structure.

Angola is the latest example of the growth of oil in Africa -- and of its potential to help and hurt.

Its oil output is projected to surpass two-million barrels a day next year and increase 90% from 2005 levels by 2010, according to conservative estimates of the International Monetary Fund.

The IMF says that would double Angolan government revenues, and many energy experts believe the extra crude from Angola and other non-OPEC countries will add critical supplies to help sate the world's 85-million-barrel-a-day -- and growing -- oil appetite.

Chevron produces just over 500,000 barrels a day and plans to double production in the next five years.

This year, Angola overtook Saudi Arabia as the leading source of crude oil for China.

"Africa has become an important part of the world's oil supply, drawing more focus from governments like the United States and China," said Jim Blackwell, the Angola-based director of Chevron's southern Africa operations.

"Of all the places I have worked in around the world, this is one of the most stable settings," said Blackwell, who's worked in Afghanistan, Kazakhstan and Nigeria.

Rights groups charge Angolan officials are hiding revenues, making it impossible to know whether money is stolen or wasted.