According to a spokesman for the field’s operator, French TotalEnergies, the Dalia offshore oilfield in Angola, which pumps 200,000 barrels per day (bpd), will undergo planned maintenance for more than a month starting on February 20. Inspections of the machinery, work on the subsea lines, and repairs to the flare tips are all part of the maintenance for the Dalia oilfield.

The maintenance, which is to last 35 days, will drastically restrict the amount of oil that Angola supplies to the world markets. According to Reuters, only 30 cargoes, an exceptionally small number, are scheduled to leave Angola in March. March may be the last month for Angola to export any Dalia crude due to the requirement to stop field production.

For at least a month, Angola will produce less crude oil as a result of the Dalia field maintenance. Even with the cuts that the alliance started in November 2022, the output from the African OPEC member is already well below the production that was set as its goal under the OPEC+ agreement.

According to secondary sources in OPEC’s most recent Monthly Oil Market Report, Angola’s crude oil production averaged barely 1.015 million barrels per day in December, down from 1.026 million barrels per day for November (MOMR). The OPEC+ agreement sets Angola’s goal output at 1.455 million bpd until December 2023 or until OPEC+ decides differently.

The drop in supplies from Angola will occur shortly after the EU prohibition on seaborne imports of Russian refined oil products, which will be a crucial time for the global oil market. After the EU ban goes into effect on February 5, the oil and diesel markets are preparing for a turbulent month of February.