Oil company BP have signed an exploration agreement with Angola. The deal gives the company access to four new block covering 19,400 km2 in the Kwanza and Benguela basins.

Bob Dudley, BP group chief executive said: “This new access builds on the major presence we have developed in Angola over the past 10 years, investing a total of $21 billion in the business. We plan to double our global spend on exploration and this huge new acreage gives us more great opportunities.”

BP expects its first development in Block 31, PSVM, to start production in 2012 producing 150,000 gross barrels per day. BP’s involvement with Angola goes back to the mid 1970s.