Angola, with its lucrative opportunities and reformed business environment, will be hosting a strong delegation of South African companies during the upcoming Angola Oil & Gas Conference, which will be held in Luanda from June 4 to 6, the African Energy Chamber (AEC) announced in a statement this week.
The summit is organised by Africa Oil & Power and endorsed by the Angolan Ministry of Mineral Resources and Petroleum of Angola.
As Angola works on attracting foreign investors from the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, its closest African neighbours are also entering the race to tap into vast investment opportunities in Africa’s second biggest oil producing market.
Beyond the traditional African oil players, most of them coming from Nigeria, South African companies have increasingly showed an interest in expanding their businesses beyond their home country.
“The economic reforms passed by President [João] Lourenço and the opening of wide swaths of oil and gas acreage constitute the single biggest exploration opportunity in the history of Angola,” said Africa Oil & Power CEO Guillaume Doane.
“This is a new era for Angola that will herald the arrival of several new entrants to the market.”
South Africa’s Strategic Fuel Fund (SFF) – a Central Energy Fund group company – will also attend the summit to investigate the various licences and blocks Angola has to offer.
The State-owned entity recently became owner and operator of South Sudan’s Block B2 under an exploration and production sharing agreement signed in Juba this month and is keen to continue securing additional assets and reserves across Africa’s key oil markets that can benefit South Africans.
“The SFF seeks to invest in and acquire key oil and gas assets across Africa that can be of important interest to the host countries and South Africa,” said SFF CEO Godfrey Moagi.
“In our quest for attractive assets with vast resource potential, we believe Angola offers the right kind of environment, mature fields and political leadership needed to realise successful ventures.”
Angola has just released a new oil licensing strategy up to 2025 and is about to launch, for the first time, a bidding round that includes marginal oilfields with an attractive fiscal framework.
Oil concessions are now overseen by a new and independent agency, the ANPG, which took this responsibility over from State-owned Sonangol in a move to make the process more efficient and transparent.
“The ambitious reform agenda of President João Laurenço and Minister of Mineral Resources and Petroleum Dr Diamantino Pedro Azevedo is proving successful in building up investors’ trust and confidence,” said Centurion Law Group CEO and AEC executive chairperson NJ Ayuk.
“It is very encouraging to see major African players coming to Angola from across the continent. This is very promising for the growing African energy cooperation and the development of our industry.”