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ExxonMobil has signed risk service contracts with the National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG) for three blocks in the unexplored Namibe Basin offshore southern Angola. ExxonMobil will operate blocks 30, 44 and 45 with a 60% stake. Sonangol Pesquisa e Produção will hold the other 40%. The blocks cover an area totalling 17,800km2, located 50km-100km from the Angolan coast, in a water depth of between 1,500 metres and more than 3,000 metres.

The National Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG) launched a tender on 31 August inviting bids for the evaluation of marginal fields. The tender is open to Angolan and international bidders.ANPG told African Energy it had identified the marginal fields to be evaluated, but did not give details. It said the tender was aimed at “all companies interested in marginal fields assessment”.

Qatar Petroleum has reached agreement with Sonangol and Total to farm into ultra-deep-water Block 48, taking 30%. Total, which will remain as operator with 40%, plans a well on the block as part of its 2020-21 drilling programme.

The National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG) has announced the start-up of the Nsinga oilfield on Block 0, offshore Cabinda province. The field, operated by Chevron’s Cabinda Gulf Oil Company Limited, is the first oil field in the Block 0 concession to start production following the approval of Presidential Legislative Decree No 6/18,of May 2018, which governs incentives for the development of marginal fields, ANPG said.

Rede Nacional de Transporte de Electricidade (RNT) invites prequalification bids by 10 August for the construction of the 400kV Huambo-Lubango transmission line and associated substations. The contract, to be financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) within the framework of the Energy Sector Efficiency and Expansion Programme (ESEEP), entails the construction of the 343km of Central-South transmission line and a new 400/220/60kV, 2x450 MVA substation at Lubango and the upgrading of an existing 400kV substation in Huambo, as well as the installation of a supervisory control and data acquisition system.

President João Lourenço appointed new boards of directors on 19 May for Empresa Pública de Produção de Electricidade (Prodel) and Empresa Nacional de Distribuição de Electricidade (Ende). A presidential statement said the changes were for operational reasons but observers linked them to longstanding financial and operating problems at the parastatals, which were established in 2014 along with transmission company Rede Nacional de Transporte de Electricidade (RNT), following the unbundling of Empresa Nacional de Electricidade.

The National Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG) has released the data package for its 2020 licensing round covering onshore blocks in the Lower Congo and Kwanza basins. Companies can express interest via the ANPG website, www.anpg.co.ao.A formal launch had been planned for the end of May but ANPG said on 28 May that “some adjustments” were necessary due to the coronavirus pandemic, though the agency said it wanted to keep to its previously announced bidding schedules.

Faced with global oversupply of crude, Sonangol and Puma Energy have agreed to use the Pumangol fuel terminal in Luanda to create a strategic fuel reserve for the country. Sonangol’s Girassol vessel carried out the first unloading operation at the terminal on 21 April, Angop reported.

Sonangol has launched an international tender for the sale of its stakes in nine oil service joint ventures as part of a planned restructuring to focus the company on its core activities. Angop reported that the parastatal is selling 30% in Petromar, 51% each in Sonatide Marine Limited and Sonatide Marine Angola Limitada, 40% each in Sonamet Industrial SA and Sonarcergy – Serviços e Construções Petróleo Lda, 10% in Paenal-Porto Amboim Estaleiros Navais, 33% of SBM Shipyard, and 30% of Sonadiets Limitada and of Sonadiets Services SA.

PGS has completed acquisition of its MC3D Kwanza Shelf survey in preparation for a planned 2021 licensing round. PGS said the survey complemented its 2019 data acquisition; total GeoStreamer coverage in blocks 6, 7 and 8 and the surrounding areas of the Kwanza Shelf is now 8,300km2. The 2021 round is expected to offer shallow water Kwanza Basin blocks 7, 8 and 9, as well as Lower Congo Basin blocks 16 and 31-34. Kwanza Basin Block 6, offshore Luanda, is under negotiation, according to the National Agency for Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels.

The National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG) has announced the postponement of an information session for Angolan oil companies on the 2020 licensing round that was scheduled to take place on 25 March. The postponement is in line with government measures to control the spread of Covid-19, which discourage public gatherings of more than 200 people.

Eni has raised its reserves estimate for the Agogo field on Block 15/06 to 1bn barrels of oil in place following the drilling of the Agogo-3 appraisal well. Earlier estimates had put reserves at around 650m barrels. Eni said further upside remained to be tested in the northern sector of the field.Agogo-3 was drilled by the Libongos drillship 1.5km north-west of the Agogo-2 appraisal well and 4.5km north-west of the Agogo-1 discovery well. The field, which started up in January, producing to the N’Goma FPSO on the block’s West Hub production centre, is about 180km from the coast.

Minister of energy and water resources João Baptista Borges has announced that 300MW of new off-grid solar PV capacity will be installed by year-end. He told a business forum during the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa on 11 February that systems would be installed in Benguela, in Luena (Moxico Province), in Saurimo (Lunda Sul), Dundo (Lunda Norte) and Bailundo (Huambo Province) with a total investment of $500m.

The National Agency of Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG) has announced three block awards in the deep-water Namibe Basin from its 2019 bid round. ANPG said Sonangol was awarded 35% in Block 27, with the other 65% remaining open for negotiation by other interested companies. Eni was awarded operatorship of Block 28 with a 60% interest, alongside Sonangol with 20%, leaving 20% open for negotiations. Block 29 was awarded to Total as operator with 46%, alongside Equinor (24.5%), Sonangol (20%) and BP (9.5%).

Italy’s Eni has announced the start-up of the Agogo field on Block 15/06, just nine months after its discovery. Initial production is around 10,000 b/d and is set to reach 20,000 b/d in the coming weeks, Eni said. Production from the field is being processed by the Ngoma FPSO on the block’s West Hub production centre, 15km from the field. According to preliminary estimates, the field holds over 650m barrels of oil in place.