More than 85 countries, which are involved in Africa’s oil and gas industry, will be represented at Africa Oil Week in Cape Town from 4-8 November, with Angola being the first in a series of profiles of these countries
Angola is sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest oil producer after Nigeria. Around 95 per cent of export and 70 per cent of tax revenues come from petroleum. An Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member, the country produces approximately 1.37 mmbbl of oil per day and an estimated 17,904.5mn cf of natural gas.
The industry is dominated by the upstream sector – exploration and production of offshore crude oil and natural gas. President João Lourenço has made it a priority to revive the sector. Regulatory reform and changes to the tax framework have encouraged international oil companies to take a fresh look at Angola.
Angola’s oil portfolio
Almost 75 per cent of Angola’s oil production comes from offshore fields. It produces a light sweet crude oil containing low volumes of sulphur, suitable for processing light refined petroleum products. The oil-rich continental shelf off the Angolan coast is currently divided into 50 blocks. This is expected to more than double with the auctioning of new blocks from 2019 to 2025.
Despite being a leading oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa, Angola imports up to 80 per cent of its demand for refined petroleum products from commodity traders such as Vitol and Trafigura. The government of Angola has plans for the construction of national refineries to increase its refinery capacity.
In 2018, in response to declining investment, the government introduced legislative reforms, began to restructure the state oil company Sonangol and created the National Concessionaire – Angola’s Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG) – to oversee licensing. The process for approval of contracts with third parties to carry out petroleum operations is now simplified and taxes have been reduced.
Angola’s gas landscape
The country has around 11 tcf of proven natural gas reserves.
Angola is exploring ways to exploit large reserves of gas considered until now little more than a by-product of lucrative oil production. In 2018, the country saw the first gas legislation to regulate natural gas exploration, production, monetisation and commercialisation. The gas industry requires significant investment to exploit its full economic potential.
