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Maersk Supply Service has signed a long-term contract with ExxonMobil in Angola to provide project management, engineering and marine services for the development of drilling and production in offshore Block 15.

Sub-Saharan African countries flared 12.15bcm of natural gas in 2021, according to newly-released data from the World Bank Group’s Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR), the equivalent of 32.4m tonnes of CO2 and $1.4bn worth of gas sales.

The Zambian government has said it is willing to buy as much of the planned Lobito refinery in Angola as the Luanda authorities are willing to sell.  

Afentra’s 28 April signing of an agreement with Angolan state company Sonangol to buy stakes in offshore blocks 3/05 and 23 are the London AIM-listed company’s first major deal since its formation last year and a marker of its intentions.  

Coming just two weeks after Eni formally launched its Azule Energy joint venture to operate with BP in Angola, the Italian major reported that its Ndungu field in deep offshore Block 15/06 contains about three times more barrels of oil equivalent (boe) in place than initially thought, giving further impetus to the majors’ Angolan alliance.

Ten months after the two majors mooted their Angola-focused tie-up, Eni and BP have formalised the combination of their local assets under a 50/50 joint venture (JV) known as Azule Energy. The new entity creates Angola’s largest oil producer, with at least 200,000 boe/d of combined net output and 2bn bbls equivalent in net resources.

Oil output in Algeria remains below the amount allowed under the Opec+ arrangement – something which is also the case for several other big African producers, as shown by the cartel’s Monthly Oil Market Report for March. According to their official filings, almost all African producers are producing below their agreed quota.

Two new offshore projects have started production within days of each other in Angola, giving a fillip to the government’s hopes of turning around a decline in its crude output.

State giant Sonangol’s gas and renewable energy business unit chair Manuel Barros said construction was due to start in Q3 2022 on a butane gas storage facility in Malanje, 380km inland from the capital Luanda. “The purpose of the facility is to increase the storage and delivery volume of the product in Malanje and neighbouring provinces,” he said

Angola received 37 proposals from 11 individual or group bidders in a farm-out round covering eight Sonangol offshore fields. The acreage included blocks 3/05, 4/05, 5/6, 15/06, 18, 23, 27 and 31. Eni is the operator on block 15/06, while BP is operator on blocks 18 and 31. Nine companies grouped themselves together into four bidding groups, while a further seven companies applied as individual entities. 

Sonangol opened bids on 15 October for the contract to design, build, own and operate an oil refinery at Lobito in Benguela province, with a capacity to process up to 200,000 b/d. Proposals were received from five groups: Lanpec Technology (China) with International Business Development Group (US); Gemcorp Holding with Omatapalo Engenharia & Construção; HBMP General Trade and Provision of Services with Avic International Beijing and China Huanquiu Contracting & Engineering; Layher Company; and GazMin International.

Turkey’s Aksa Enerji Üretim has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Energy and Water to develop electricity and generation projects.

The nine blocks snapped up in Angola’s onshore licensing round that ended in late September saw a mix of lesser-known foreign and well-placed domestic players secure acreage. This counts as a success story for Luanda in a year when post-Dos Santos Angola has sought to reverse the gloomy narrative that has surrounded Africa’s second biggest oil producer, writes James Gavin.

African Energy issue 123 of 5 October 2007 reported on the emergence of a new class of small but ambitious indigenous players in the Angolan oil industry, after the 2005/06 licensing round “saw the entry on to the domestic energy scene of six mostly unknown companies: Prodoil, Force Petroleum, Angola Consulting Resources (ACR), Falcon Oil, Initial Oil and Gas and Grupo Gema.

The African Development Bank is inviting expressions of interest (EoIs) from consultants to carry out an economic and financial analysis on the 612MW Baynes hydropower plant on the border of Angola and Namibia.