Angola is literally swimming in oil. It is said that if you drill into the country's seabed, oil is bound to come gushing out. The Belgians first discovered oil there in the 1950's but it was not until 1966 that Angola's true oil-producing potential was realised with substantial reserves discovered off the coast of Cabinda province, the northern exclave that produces up to 65% of Angola's oil, pumping out 900,000 barrels a day.

Since 2000 political instability through the secessionist movement made Angola search for alternate oil reserves.

Angola has currently 36 blocks of petroleum exploitation activities. The local economy has been given a huge boost with the discovery of massive new oilfields. One of these is the Girassol field in what's known as Block 17. It is truly colossal in size, the length of a football field.  

The French have already bought into Girassol's field pumping 35,000 barrels per day (bpd) that has surged to 205,000 bpd. By 2005 it was estimated that Angola would be producing 1.3 million bpd. All these statistics are impressive indeed but watching the oil drilling operation in progress is even more so.

This floating football field is 5 times heavier than an aircraft carrier. Girassol's well head is 1500 metres below the surface. At this depth the pressure made it too difficult and too expensive to extract the oil. The French spent 5 years and millions of dollars devising a plan which would enable maximum extraction capability.

The results are breathtaking; an underwater network of pipelines links forty wells to three 1200 metre-high towers. Opening and closing a valve 1500 metres below is done with the click of the mouse. Oil is measured by the barrel and one barrel is equivalent top 159 litres. Below deck the Girassol oilfield accommodates two million barrels which equates to 320 million litres.

All these facts and figures as well as the watching the highly impressive technology at work almost makes you forget that since 2000 more than 4 billion dollars have disappeared from Angola's oil treasury, according to the International Monetary Fund.  The country is the second largest petroleum and diamond producer in sub-Saharan Africa and yet with all this wealth the people of Angola have a life expectancy and infant mortality that are amongst the worst ranked in the world. Is there hope for the people of Angola with such ingrained corruption at the highest levels of their government?