The Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo said, yesterday, in Luanda, that the year 2023 ended with a daily production rate of around 1 million and 90 thousand barrels of oil, as well as an increase in the rate of replacement to ensure maintenance of production levels above 1 million barrels per day
The government official, who spoke during the New Year’s message, highlighted that during the year just ended, actions continued to be developed aimed at implementing the Hydrocarbon Exploration Strategy 2020-2025 and the Petroleum Concessions Attribution Strategy 2019-2025.
“In 2023, 12 Onshore Blocks of the Lower Congo and Kwanza Basins were tendered, we witnessed the award of the Concession Area of the New Gas Consortium, Risk Service and Production Sharing Contracts were approved, renegotiated and signed for different Blocks”, he recalled.
Diamantino Azevedo highlighted that in 2023 the study of the Etosha-Okavango Basin began as part of the process of evaluating the hydrocarbon potential of the Sedimentary Basins in the Interior of Angola.
At the same time, ANPG initiated, and should finalize this year, a proposal for an Incremental Production Project, which aims to establish mechanisms to reverse the decline in production, encouraging Operators to implement projects considered not economically viable today through a legal and fiscal package own.
Gas production
In relation to gas production, the minister said that in 2023 the start of construction of the facilities of the New Gas Consortium Project was a significant milestone, as well as the inauguration of phase 2 of the “Falcão” Gas Reception and Distribution Unit, located in Soyo, with a treatment capacity of over 50 million cubic feet of gas per day.
“In total, the project has a total treatment and transport capacity of 125 million cubic feet of gas per day, which is of great importance for the country that plans to create a Gas Industry,” he said. Among other projects, the new consortium will be able to supply gas to the future Ammonia and Urea Plant that is being built in Soyo, in a partnership between Sonangol and the Opaia Group.
Cabinda Refinery
In the scope of refining, Diamantino Azevedo pointed out the continuity of construction projects for the Cabinda, Soyo and Lobito Refineries, with the completion of the construction of the first phase of the Cabinda Refinery at the end of this year, as well as the formalization of the beginning of construction of the Lobito Refinery.
Still in his assessment of the activities carried out last year, the director highlighted the increase in storage capacity and the improvement of the fuel supply system. In 2023, he said, the construction of the Barra do Dande Ocean Terminal and other projects aimed at increasing fuel storage capacity on land, nationally, continued.
Exit from OPEC
In the final part of his speech, Diamantino Azevedo once once more justified the reasons behind Angola’s departure from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), saying that the Government’s decision was not a last-minute reflection. “For some time now we have been raising some concerns due to specific facts and finally in December, we saw that this Organization no longer met the values and interests of Angola, namely regarding unanimous decision-making and the establishment of production quotas that put into question our real production capabilities and needs, we have taken the decision to present the formal request for withdrawal from our country as of January 1, 2024”, he said.
