Oil and gas multinational Shell recently reported it will invest approximately $1 billion to fund new oil blocks based in Angola.
The news comes as the southern African country furthers its plans to ramp up oil production that has lessened greatly in the past years.
ANPG, the national agency for oil, gas and biofuels in Angola, has now completed an exclusive agreement with Shell for oil exploration rights that cover multiple offshore blocks as well as 14 other blocks based in extreme deep water locations.
Exploration and producing oil and gas are among Shell’s chief activities. However, it also produces these fossil fuels and refines them into products for market, like reliable products ranging from grease to gear oil.
President of the ANPG, Paulino Jeronimo, commented on the new agreement at a recent event held in Angola’s capital, Luanda. According to Jeronimo, the fresh funding from Shell will be utilised to perform seismic surveys and carry out offshore and deep-water drilling. He added that the agency’s priority is to keep crude production in Angola at over a million barrels per day (bpd) via various strategies, including output projects and field developments, conducted at marginal and incremental rates.
Angola is the third largest oil producer in Africa and has been seeking investment to hold steep output decline as bay, with oil being a major source of revenue for its government. In July, it dropped briefly below its one million bpd baseline for the first time in two years.
