Luanda - The minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas Diamantino Azevedo on Monday said that reforms in the regulatory framework, the strategy of exploration and prospecting, are mechanisms to stop the decline in oil production that Angola has faced in recent years.
“Interventions in the business environment in this sector, the bidding of blocks and the strategy of exploring and prospecting for more oil on offer aim to mitigate the decline and maintain stable production levels for the coming years”, he explained.
In this regard, the ministry has recently carried out a comparative study with other countries that are also involved in oil activities, in order to adapt the reform process, as well as an assessment of the strategies for exploration, bidding, the petrochemical strategy, refining, as well as the increase in fuel storage capacity.
On the other hand, it is necessary to take into account that the paradigm of the oil industry has changed with the moment of energy transition and, particularly, the situation of several points of tension in the world.
The minister added that financing for mining and oil activities is linked to the measures that countries define in terms of tax benefits and better environmental legislation.
There are also aspects of money laundering, transparency and the fight against corruption, among others.
On the occasion, regarding the bidding process for oil concessions, launched today, the director for negotiations at the National Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG), Alcides Andrade, said that this act is part of the national strategy for assigning blocks, which plans to tender 50 oil blocks by 2025.
This is the third tender, after 2020, 2021 and 2022, with the aim of mitigating the decline in hydrocarbon production in the country.
For this year, the minister said that 12 blocks will be put up for auction in the Congo basins (with four blocks) and the Kwanza basin, with eight exploration blocks, which will result in new reserves, new resources and “on shore” production to ensure that there is sustainability in oil activity in the country.
According to Alcides Andrade, the official tender will be launched on September 30th of the current year, for 40 days, and the results will be known in November, and the contracts with the winners will be signed in March 2024.
The National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG), as the national concessionaire, holds mining rights for prospecting, research, evaluation, development and production of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons throughout Angola.
