Africa-Press – Angola. The National Agency of Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG) signed, Wednesday, two production sharing contracts for Blocks 16/21 and 31/21, with the multinationals TotalEnergies, Azule and Equinor, an act that marks more investment in the oil sector in Angola.
These are two oil Blocks located in ultra-deep waters in the Lower Congo Basin, with a potential considered “good”, according to the chairman of the Board of Directors (PCA) of ANPG, Paulino Jerónimo.
The contracts result from the limited offshore bidding round 2021/2022.
For Block 16/21, the production sharing contract was signed by the chairman of the Board of Directors of ANPG, Paulino Jerónimo, and the director general of TotalEnergies, Martin Deffontaines, an act witnessed by the holder of the portfolio, Diamantino Azevedo, among others representatives.
With the aim of increasing production above 250 barrels/day of oil, the chairman of the Executive Board of Azule, Adriano Mongini, and the representative of Equinor, Ane Aubert, signed the contract for Block 31/21 (at full production), field in which Azule is the operator with a 50% stake.
Meanwhile, Block 16/21 is in the process of developing a discovery made in this same field, which is close to Block 17 (which produces the most), operated by TotalEnergies.
Thus, the oil companies are now starting work, and in these contracts, according to Paulino Jerónimo, in the first exploration phase, investments of more than US$7 million are estimated for drilling wells and seismic work.
In the event of an oil discovery, which is foreseen, the investments will be much higher, and could be around one billion US dollars.
“Now it will need to be done. It is one thing to carry out the studies and another thing is the actual situation of drilling a well and only after that will we know whether there are discoveries or not”, recalled Paulino Jerónimo, expressing good expectations of finding black gold, which will mitigate the decline in production .
Speaking to the press, on the sidelines of the event, he said that the hope is, in the coming years, to have more wells in the two concessions and, in case of discovery, to be developed to replace the reserves produced.
Now, it is up to the operators to carry out the studies found on paper, drilling wells and seismic work until more oil is discovered.
After the first exploration period, which is five years, operators will have the right for two more subsequent years to continue with the process.
Blue ‘s first contract
According to the CEO of Azule, this was the first contract signed by the company since the formation of AzuleEnergy, a year ago, combining the businesses of ENI and PB Angola.
The official reiterated that the signed contract provides for an increase in production, within the framework of making the company’s business grow, already promising other agreements.
According to the official, the next steps are already in sight, such as the signing of other agreements in poplin, such as those for Block 47 and 48, as well as the contracts referring to Blocks 18/15.
Training national staff and social responsibilities are among other commitments on the oil company’s agenda.
Oil production in Angola remains at 1.1 million barrels of oil per day.
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