The Angolan oil concessionaire, TotalEnergies and the associates of Block 48 signed yesterday, in Luanda, contracts for the exploration of three blocks in the onshore Congo Basin and another five in the onshore Kwanza Basin.

At the ceremony, the president of the National Agency of Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), Paulino Jerónimo, pointed out that the signing of the contracts is the culmination of a long negotiation process.

Paulino Jerónimo "heartily" congratulated the investors, partners for the concession of the blocks awarded.

"I want here to reaffirm that it is the national concessionaire's commitment to increase the geological knowledge of all sedimentary basins in Angola, through the implementation of the hydrocarbon exploration strategy approved by the Presidential Decree, and to promote and bid for these areas, thus increasing, if successful, oil production," he stressed.

The head of the Angolan concessionaire announced on the occasion that, in 2023, the bidding for more blocks in the onshore area of the Lower Congo and Lower Kwanza Basins is planned, and that several blocks also remain available, in compliance with the Presidential Decree on the Permanent Offer of Petroleum Concessions.

These are, blocks 9 of the onshore Kwanza area, blocks 7, 8 and 9 of the offshore Kwanza Basin, blocks 32/21, 33/21, 34/21 of the offshore Congo Basin, block 10 of the Benguela Basin and blocks 11, 12, 13, 41, 42 and 43 of the Namibe Basin, as well as blocks 6/15 and 20/15 of the offshore Kwanza Basin, the latter two with discoveries.

In his turn, the Secretary of State for Oil and Gas, José Barroso, considered the signing of these contracts "an act of great importance," noting that the onshore is not only for Angola "the extension of exploration that is being done today, and successfully, in the Angolan offshore.

"It also represents a very great importance, because for many years some institutions have always presented some doubt about the potential of the Angolan onshore, and the signing of these contracts for the onshore areas of the Lower Congo and Kwanza Basin represents for us finally a milestone for this legislature, but, I believe, above all for our national concessionaire," he stressed.

The Angolan concessionaire has as partners the French TotalEnergies and the associates of Block 48 (Qatar Petroleum and Sonangol Pesquisa & Produção) for the exploration in the Congo Basin of blocks CON1; CON5; CON6 and in the Kwanza Basin of blocks KON5; KON6; KON8; KON17; KON20.

The Angolan government is in the process of implementing the overall 2019-2025 oil concession allocation strategy in light of Presidential Decree No. 52/19, which provides for the bidding of more than 50 oil concessions.

In 2021, ANPG held the bidding for nine concessions in the onshore area of the Kwanza and Lower Congo Basins, with a capacity of about 500 million barrels of oil for exploration, of which eight sharing and production contracts were signed today. (Lusa)