Angola plans to open more than 100 oil and gas exploration blocks and halve the time required to award concessions as part of a new 25-year hydrocarbon strategy aimed at attracting investment and boosting production.
The reforms, expected to take effect next year following the approval of the plan, will replace the country’s multi-year licensing auction rounds with a more flexible system designed to accelerate exploration and encourage greater participation by energy companies.
Alcides Andrade, a board member of Angola’s National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), disclosed the plans on the sidelines of an energy conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
According to Andrade, the government intends to make the new blocks available as soon as the strategy is approved later this year, with most of the sites located onshore.
The regulator also plans to reduce the time required to award exploration concessions from six months to three months, a move expected to speed up investment decisions and allow companies to begin operations sooner.
Under the proposed framework, Angola will adopt a risk-based approach to licensing conditions rather than applying uniform terms to all exploration projects. The system will distinguish between marginal and mature fields, as well as onshore and deep-water assets, to reflect their different operational and financial risks.
The strategy builds on regulatory reforms that have attracted substantial commitments from international energy companies, including TotalEnergies and Eni, which have pledged billions of dollars to projects in Angola and other parts of sub-Saharan Africa.
Angola, sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest oil producer after Nigeria, currently produces about one million barrels of crude oil per day. The government hopes that increased exploration and drilling will reverse production stagnation and support long-term growth in the country’s oil and gas industry.
The 25-year strategy is intended to strengthen Angola’s position in the global energy market by improving the investment climate, expanding exploration activities and encouraging sustained production growth.
