Angola offshore oil pioneers lead tough life

Approached by air, French oil giant Total’s Girassol facility 150 km (90 miles) off the Angolan coast looks like a gargantuan child’s construction toy drifting in the cold Atlantic ocean. Visitors touching down on the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO.L: Quote, Profile, Research) vessel’s helipad enter a space-age craft which holds one important key to Africa’s future oil hopes. Girassol has already been hailed a model development in the deepwater oil industry and a huge step forward in offshore oil platform engineering.