Speaking during the signing of three Risky Service Contracts for the offshore blocks 18/15, 46 and 47, located in the Lower Congo Basin, the director clarified that these agreements will also contribute to reversing the current production situation, through increasing geological knowledge of the fields where the aforementioned oil blocks are located.
On the other hand, the Secretary of State recognized that the Angolan oil sector has faced enormous internal and external challenges, a fact that has negatively impacted production and, consequently, affected the collection of financial revenue for the State coffers.
To reverse the decline in oil production in the country, the Secretary of State for Mineral Resources highlights the need to continually improve the business environment in the Angolan oil industry, so that all companies or potential investors can develop their activities in a sustainable manner. in Angola
José Barroso assured that the Angolan Government remains committed to implementing measures that will provide a favorable business environment, the benefits of which should provide “maximum comfort for investors and raise a greater volume of revenue for the State, with a view to improving of the living conditions of the populations”.
The three Risky Service Contracts, to promote the development of oil exploration activities in the Lower Congo Basin, were signed this Wednesday, in Luanda, by the National Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG), Azule Energy, Equinor and Sonangol Pesquisa & Produção.
These are agreements for the concession of offshore blocks 18/15, 46 and 47, which cover an area of approximately 8,700 square kilometers, in the deep and ultra-deep waters off the Angolan coast.
Regarding the signing of these agreements, the CEO of the oil company Azule Energy, Adriano Mongini, considered blocks 46 and 47 as new areas of exploration that could be catalysts for the development of the energy sector in Angola, as they have not yet been explored, until at the moment.
He mentioned that Azule Energy sees itself as a strategic partner for the country, with the intention of being the “largest producer of oil and gas in Angola.
With the agreements signed, Azule Energy will operate the three blocks, with a 40% stake in fields 46 and 47, and 80% in 18/15, while Sonangol Pesquisa & Produção holds a 20% stake in each block and Equinor owns 40% of the shares in blocks 46 and 47.
After the execution of the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) for Block 31/21 last August, this is the second concession of license for exploratory blocks involving Azule Energy, since the creation of the ‘joint-venture’ by oil companies BP and ENI, in August 2022.
In the same vein, the President of the Board of Directors of ANPG, Paulino Jerónimo, stated that the signing of the aforementioned contracts represents another achievement for the sector, which contributes to the materialization of the National Concessionaire’s strategy, centered on the continuous search for increased production .
Additionally, the manager of the National Concessionaire said that this act is the result of extensive work to consult investors, which focused on making fiscal and contractual terms more flexible given the complexity of the aforementioned blocks.
In this sense, he said, it is understood that the success of the oil industry will essentially depend on an open dialogue with investors, with emphasis on large blocks.
The signing of the Risk Service Contracts (CSR) results from the publication, in the Official Gazette, of executive decrees 243/23, 244/23 and 245/23 of 20 November, which approve these agreements and authorize the change of operators of concession areas of blocks 18/15, 46 and 47, whose concessions had been attributed directly to the National Concessionaire, through Presidential Decrees 5/16, 56/19 and 57/19. QCB