Several firms have shown interest in Angola’s onshore tender cycle, which was initiated to reverse the decreasing trend in oil output and improve gas production.

The National Agency for Oil, Gas, and Biofuels (ANPG) reported that it got 45 offers from 15 different businesses after launching a worldwide call for tenders for 9 onshore blocks in the Bas Congo and Kwanza basins. The ANPG technical teams are reviewing the files thoroughly, and the final official findings are likely to be revealed on August 25, 2021.

The increased level of participation can be ascribed in part to ANPG’s efforts to simplify bidding criteria and lower entrance barriers by eliminating the one-million-dollar entry fee for companies interested in bidding.

The Executive Director and Member of the Board of Directors of the Agency in charge of negotiations, Natacha Massano, said: “Based on the first data available to us, we strongly believe in the potential of the proposed 9 blocks. We look forward to finding the right partners to explore them at the end of this process. We very much hope that these blocks will play an important role in increasing Angola’s oil production in the future.”

Also commenting, the First Vice-President of the African Energy Chamber, Verner Ayukegba, said: “These promising initial results are a good indication that previous reforms to improve the operating environment in Angola’s oil and gas sector are bearing fruit.”

It’s also worth noting that these proposals represent a total investment of over a billion dollars in the Angolan oil and gas sector, demonstrating the country’s ability to continue attracting investors despite the global health crisis and the development of renewable energies at the expense of fossil ones.