Angolan rig activity fell slightly in September 2023, with, twelve (12) drilling units in operation, compared with 14 rigs active in August 2023.
The country’s crude oil output also continued on a downward slope for the third consecutive month in September 2023. The output was 1,112,685 barrels of oil (BOPD), compared with August 2023’s daily average of 1,128,878BOPD.
It was a mere 1.4% output drop, but Angola has declared it was pausing the ambition to reach 1.2MMBOPD, at least until sometime in 2024. Belarmino Chitangueleca, executive director at the National Agency of Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), reportedly told Reuters on October 18, 2023, that Angola expects to maintain its current crude oil production of 1.1MMBOPD into 2024. That’s a revision of the statement made in June 2023 by Ana Miala, the ANPG’s director of production, that the country wants “to reach, and stay around, a production of .1.2MMBOPD, in the medium term”.
At the drill sites, seven (7) drill ships, (Sonandril West Gemini, Sonangol Libongos, Valaris DS-09, Sonangol Quenguela, Transocean Skyros, Valaris DS 12 and Sapem 12000 one (1) Tension Leg Platform TLP-A, and SKD Jaya Tender were working in the deepwater, with one (1) Jack Up, Shelf Drilling’s Tenaciou active in shallow water. There were two land drilling rigs: a FALCON HP-1000 and SA_02 land rigs.
These units carried out work in twenty-six (26) wells, compared with 27 wells in August 2023.
