Angola has joined Egypt in perennial offloading of acreages on the market.
The country’s National Oil, Gas & Biofuels Agency (ANPG) has announced it will launch a limited tender in Q1 2025, offering 10 blocks in the Kwanza and Benguela Basins – including five marginal fields –described as a first for the country by the African Energy Chamber (AEC), the advocacy group for investment in the continent’s hydrocarbon resources.
The ANPG has opened negotiations for participation in the upcoming licensing round and companies are invited to contact the regulator ahead of the official licensing launch.
Angola’s 2025 limited tender will feature Block 40, Block 25, Block 39 and Block 26 in the Benguela Basin as well as Block 22, Block 35, Block 37, Block 38 and Block 36 in the Kwanza Basin. Additionally, the country has four onshore blocks available; 11 blocks on permanent offer; and five marginal fields ready for exploration. The marginal fields are situated in producing blocks with proven systems and can be awarded individually. Companies that demonstrate interest will receive an invitation letter once the 2025 tender launches.
Angola holds 10Billion barrels of crude oil in reserves, less than a third of Nigeria’s, but has been close to being head-to-head with the West African country, in terms of production. It has averaged around 1.1Million Barrels of Oil Per Day (1.1MMBOPD) in the last two years, some 200-300,000BOPD shy of Nigeria’s 1.3-1.4MMBOPD in the same period.
And there was a time Angola threatened to overtake the more populated, larger economy, in output. Between 2008 and 2010, Angolan production cruised to 2MMBOPD, at a time when Nigerian output was around 2.5MMBOPD. Both were not sustained.
Angola’s response to the sharp decline, which is caused by field maturation, is to opt for frequent bid rounds. “We have been implementing a series of reforms. We approved a strategy in 2019 to license more than 50 blocks by 2025”, says Alcides Andrade, Board Member of the Angolan National Agency of Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG). “So far, we have executed four licensing rounds and awarded more than 30 new concessions. We have another one planned for 2025 where we are projecting to put up another ten blocks offshore,”
Angolan officials were excited, and they announced the event all over the media, when output reached 1.2MMBOPD on June 12, 2024. But production has dropped again.
“The plan is to do everything we can to keep production above one million bpd”, Andrade explained. “We have a diverse range of opportunities for different size companies as well as opportunities in onshore blocks, shallow waters and deepwater opportunities.”
