The National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG) and Azule Energy signed, yesterday, in Luanda, three Risk Services Contracts (CSR) for offshore Blocks 46 and 47 in partnership with Equinor and Sonangol Research & Production, and for Block 18/15 in partnership with Sonangol Research & Production.
These agreements are the result of direct negotiations between the parties and represent yet another commitment to the development of exploration activities in the Lower Congo Basin, with a view to boosting production.
Furthermore, like other contracts signed recently, they result from the recommendations of the Competitiveness Study carried out by ANPG in 2022 and 2023, with a view to finding solutions and defining strategies that make the Angolan oil sector more competitive and attractive, through incentives investment in oil operations and investment in the discovery and profitability of the country’s oil resources.
Azule Energy will operate the three Blocks, with a 40% interest in Blocks 46 and 47, and 80% in Block 18/15. Sonangol Pesquisa & Produção holds a 20% stake in each block, and Equinor a 40% stake in blocks 46 and 47. These three licenses cover an area of approximately 8,700 square kilometers in the deep and ultra-deep waters off the Angolan coast.
For Azule Energy, following the execution of the PSA for Block 31/21 last August, this is the second license grant for exploratory blocks in which it has been involved since the creation of the joint venture by BP and ENI, in August 2022 For the chairman of the Board of Directors of ANPG, Paulino Jerónimo, “the signing of these three Risk Service Contracts represents yet another achievement for the national concessionaire, contributing to solidifying the scope and materialization of its strategy to reduce the decline in production oil company in our country”.
The CEO of Azule Energy, Adriano Mongini, said that the company he represents sees itself as “a strategic partner of the country” and that it intends to become “the largest producer of oil and gas in Angola”, adding that the 46 blocks and 47 have never been explored and represent a new frontier exploration area that might prove to be a catalyst of opportunities for the company and the country’s energy sector in general.
