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LONDON, March 17 (Reuters) - BP has declared forcemajeure on oil output from an Angolan oil project which providesalmost 10 percent of the OPEC member's exports after a powerloss.
The oil company declared force majeure on Monday due to thepower loss at the PSVM oil project's floating production,storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, offshore Angola.
"Emergency and auxiliary power has been restored and thecause of the incident is being investigated," BP said in astatement. "The FPSO is currently on shutdown."
The PSVM development consists of the Plutao, Saturno, Venusand Marte fields and is operated by BP. Output started in late2012 at the venture, which BP says is Africa's largest deepwateroil project.
Crude from the fields is known as Saturno by traders. TheSaturno stream was scheduled to pump 158,000 barrels per day(bpd) in April, 9.5 percent of total exports of 1.67 millionbpd.
Angola is Africa's second-largest exporter after Nigeria anda member of the Organization of the Petroluem ExportingCountries.
Force majeure refers to a clause in contracts that allowsbuyers or sellers to renege on commitments due to events beyondtheir control. (Reporting by Alex Lawler; editing by Jason Neely and KeithWeir)