Overview
Angola is the second largest oil producing country in sub-Saharan Africa and an OPEC member with output of approximately 1.37 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) and an estimated 17,904.5 million cubic feet of natural gas production. Due to a significant drop in oil prices and limited foreign currencies in the Angolan market, very limited investment in either new or mature exploration and production fields has occurred 2014 to 2018. The limited investment in turn has led to the current daily lifts of 1.37 million barrels of oil per day (bpd), far below capacity. However, announcements of investments and discoveries over the last year are expected to boost production starting in 2020 and 2021. Further, the country holds 9 billion barrels of proven oil resources and 11 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves, which represent great potential for further economic development and significant business opportunities. Further, the country has begun to implement reforms, which has led to announcements of new investment and expect to increase production in the medium to long – term.
The oil industry in Angola is dominated by the upstream sector — exploration and production of offshore crude oil and natural gas. Almost 75 percent of the oil production comes from off-shore fields. Angola produces light sweet crude oil containing low volumes of sulphur, suited for processing light refined petroleum products. The oil rich continental shelf off the Angolan coast is divided into 50 blocks but the number of blocks is expected to double with the auctioning of new blocks from 2019 to 2025.
