Angola Looks to Get Back to Production Growth

Since Angola started reforming its oil and gas sector back in 2018, the former Opec member has been pulling every available contractual and governance lever it can to ensure it remains Africa’s top destination for upstream investment. And while those reforms and subsequent government efforts have been effective and widely praised, Angola’s oil production has been largely flat since 2021 — even though decline rates overall have slowed, net output from the majors in Angola has fallen every year since 2019. That has prompted Luanda to redouble efforts to attract capital with even sweeter terms and promises of increased drilling activity, both offshore and onshore. The 2019 creation of ANGP — Angola’s independent and powerful upstream regulator — and the implementation of new regulations and other sweeteners covering marginal fields, gas monetization and cross-license development all helped boost interest in Angola’s upstream. Now Luanda wants to boost its stagnant production numbers, which have been stuck in the 1 million-1.1 million barrel per day range for years. The government has recently moved to improve contract terms for mature fields and enhance cost recovery rules for additional exploration within development blocks. “We’re always looking to reinvent ourselves,” Helder Iombo, ANPG’s director of negotiations, told attendees at this week’s Africa Oil Week conference in Accra. The efforts to attract capital have helped keep interest in Angola strong: One executive active in Angola told Energy Intelligence there was “a queue of people going around the corner” outside ANPG’s hotel suite at the Accra conference, with everyone “waiting to meet” with the regulator.