CAPE TOWN, South Africa, May 2, 2024/ -- Sebastião Gaspar Martins, CEO of Angola’s national oil company (NOC) Sonangol, will participate as a speaker at African Energy Week (AEW): Invest in African Energy 2024 event in Cape Town from November 4-8. This comes as the country seeks to attain energy security, affordability and reliability on the back of accelerated oil and gas development. The NOC will also serve as a sponsor for this year’s event.

Ahead of AEW: Invest in African Energy 2024, the parastatal continues to actively promote Angola’s hydrocarbon industry, along with the country’s national concessionaire National Agency of Oil, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), with a view to stabilizing production above 1.1 million barrels of oil per day (bpd) and increasing its share of operated crude oil and natural gas production from two to 10% by 2027.

AEW: Invest in African Energy is the platform of choice for project operators, financiers, technology providers and governments and has emerged as the official place to sign deals in African energy. Visit www.AECWeek.com for more information about this exciting event.

In September 2023, Sonangol spudded the Tobias-13 well as part of drilling and evaluation work in Block KON11 in the onshore Kwanza Basin, aiming to fast-track a potential discovery into development. Meanwhile, Angola has seen an uptick in exploration and production activities, with the ANPG finalizing production sharing negotiations from its latest 12-block tender and is set to launch its next oil and gas licensing round in 2025.

Leading international oil companies operating in the country, including TotalEnergies, continue to drive exploration and production activities. In Block 17, the supermajor is working towards first production at the CLOV Phase 3 project, consisting of a five-well expansion set to increase production by 30,000 bpd. TotalEnergies is also developing the offshore Cameia and Golfhino fields, as well as anticipating first production from the offshore Begonia oil field later this year, adding another 30,000 bpd to the country’s output.

Poised to diversify gas-based industries and serve as an intermediary fuel in the energy transition, natural gas in Angola has risen to the forefront of the country’s agenda. In December 2023, Sonangol inaugurated its Falcão Phase 2 gas project, effectively delivering gas from the Angola LNG plant to the Soyo 1 combined-cycle power plant. The project has served to boost the plant’s processing capacity to 125 million cubic feet while enabling gas distribution to industry and petrochemical plants across the southern region of the country.

With the first phase of the 60,000-bpd Cabinda Refinery set to start production this year – while production of the 200,000-bpd Lobito and 100,000-bpd Soyo refineries are also underway – Angola is well positioned to advance its downstream sector. Additionally, completion of the Barra Do Dande Ocean Terminal is on track for July 2024, supporting the country’s oil industry while contributing to the government’s stated goal of locally processed oil meeting up to 10% of domestic fuel demand.

“Sonangol truly represents an integrated energy company of the future. From operating as an NOC, the company has gradually transformed itself into a competitive energy player and continues to make great strides towards unlocking the true potential of Angola’s energy resources. Sonangol has shown how NOCs can be used to drive large-scale development, mobilize sizeable investments and usher in a new era of sustainable energy projects in Africa,” states African Energy Chamber Executive Chairman NJ Ayuk.

AEW: Invest in African Energy 2024 serves as a nexus for global leaders, stakeholders, governments and energy companies to converge, discussing Africa’s burgeoning projects, strengthening partnerships and finalizing new deals. With its comprehensive program, the conference will showcase Africa’s diverse energy industry, providing invaluable insights and opportunities for all participants. For more information about how you can get involved, visit www.AECWeek.com.