Angola’s efforts to stabilize its declining crude oil production received a significant boost on Wednesday.
Two new offshore projects commenced operations, collectively adding 60,000 barrels per day to the nation’s output, according to the national oil and gas agency ANPG.
Sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest oil producer, Angola, has been actively revamping its oil and gas regulations.
These changes aim to attract more energy companies and counter a halving of oil production since its 2008 peak of around 2 million bpd, primarily due to aging fields.
Last year, President Joao Lourenco approved a law providing new incentives for incremental production expansion in offshore blocks, following Angola’s decision to leave OPEC over crude output allocations.
Both the offshore CLOV Phase 3 development and the BEGONIA project will each produce 30,000 bpd.
The CLOV 3 satellite project, located in Block 17, will connect to an existing floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, helping Angola maintain overall production above 1 million bpd.
Paulino Jerónimo, chairman of the ANPG, stated, “This is good news for the country. First oil is always very important.”
BEGONIA, situated about 150 kilometers off Angola’s coast, marks the country’s first inter-block subsea development, linking Blocks 17 and 17/06 and utilizing the Pazflor FPSO.
Martin Deffontaines, General Manager of TotalEnergies Angola, noted, “We will produce oil from one block using existing facilities from another.”
TotalEnergies operates Block 17 with a 38% stake, alongside partners Equinor, ExxonMobil, Azule Energy, and Sonangol E&P.
