Paris, December 20, 2002 - Sonangol, Sociedade Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola, and TotalFinaElf announce the thirteenth promising oil discovery on the deepwater offshore block 17 in Angola, approximately 150 kilometres from the coast.

Drilled at a water depth of 718 metres, the Zinia-1 discovery well is located 45 kilometres northeast of Dalia.

During production tests, Zina-1 showed a daily flow rate of 3,650 barrels of oil. This positive result will be followed by further geological and engineering studies in order to appraise the newly discovered structure.

This latest successful exploration on Block 17 confirms the extended potential of the block, which has been revealed by the 12 preceding discoveries: Girassol, Dalia, Rosa, Lirio, Tulipa, Orquidea, Cravo, Camelia, Jasmim, Perpetua, Violeta and Anturio. The Girassol field that entered into production in December 2001 rapidly achieved its current production of 200,000 barrels per day.

The concessionaire of Block 17 is Sonangol. TotalFinaElf is the operator with a 40% interest in Block 17 along with Esso Exploration Angola (20 %), BP (16.67%), Statoil (13.33%) and Norsk Hydro (10%).