Is Shell Returning To Angola?

In the last one year, teams of Shell staff have shown up in the offices of Sonangol, the Angolan state hydrocarbon company, in Luanda, the country’s capital. They have also been seen in various government offices in the city. But why?
Officially, Shell won’t comment on their activity in Angola. The Anglo Dutch major pulled out of Block 18 in the country’s deep-water about eight years ago, gave up 50% of what is now producing 200,000 BOPD. At that time, Shell decided Angola was no longer “core” for it and decided to focus on Gulf of Mexico, Nigeria, North Sea, Far East, etc. Six years ago, the company kickstarted a series of divestment from Nigerian acreages, selling its stakes in 10 leases between 2007 and 2012. Last year, it made a $1.74Billion bid to buy Cove Energy, which had a minority interest (8.5%) in the gas rich Anadarko operated Area 1, offshore Mozambique.