LONDON -(Dow Jones)- BP PLC (BP) and its partners Monday got a green light to kick off one of Angola’s largest oil and gas investments, worth $10 billion.

The news come as the country is steadily ramping up production after becoming Africa’s largest oil producer, bypassing Nigeria where violence has hampered output.

The announcement is also good news for U.K. giant BP, whose ambitions have been challenged by a dispute in Russia and delays in the U.S.

In a statement, BP said state-owned Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola, or Sonangol, had authorized it and its partners to develop a series of deepwater oil discoveries in offshore Angola’s Block 31.

Construction work is expected to start during 2008 with first oil planned in 2011 and building to a plateau of about 150,000 barrels a day by 2012, BP said.

Natural gas production is expected to plateau at 185 million cubic feet a day, a BP spokesman added.

The company and its partners will invest $10 billion in the developments, most of it in the four years prior to the plateau production, a person familiar with BP’s plans said.

BP is the operator and 26.7% owner of the license. The other shareholders in Block 31 are an Exxon Mobil Corp. unit with 25%, Sonangol with 20%, Statoil ASA (STO) with 13.3%, Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) with 10% and a Total SA (TOT) subsidiary with 5%. Sonangol is the concessionaire.

BP has invested heavily in Angola, an African country that has proved more secure than Nigeria, and where the company’s fortunes contrast with setbacks elsewhere.

In Russia, BP is under attack following a dispute with its local partners in joint-venture TNK-BP Holding (TNBP.RS) while it has suffered a three years delay with its giant platform Thunder Horse in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.

By contrast, BP’s 200,000 barrels-a-day Greater Plutonio met its deadline when it started producing at the end of 2007. The most recent project will also help Angola’s plans to ramp up of its production. Angola’s Petroleum Minister

Desiderio Costa said earlier this month that oil output is already expected to rise to 2 million barrels a day in 2008, from a current 1.9 million barrels a day.Source:  CNN Money

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