National Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG) announces innovations to improve the business environment for oil and gas in Angola

Belarmino Chittargueleca, Executive Director of Angola’s national concessionaire and upstream regulator, the National Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), announced a series of changes and innovations, including drastic cuts in approval times, at the African Oil, Gas and Biofuels Week. Energy (AEW) (www.AECWeek.com) Conference and Exhibition 2022 in Cape Town. These changes show a better business environment for oil and gas in Angola.

Under the theme ‘A new concessionaire offers a new way of doing business’, Chittargueleca gave a presentation on the current state of the Angolan oil and gas industry, stating that the regulator managed to reduce bureaucracy and streamline approval processes for the industry.

During his presentation it was noted that negotiations for exploration licenses are expected to begin and conclude in less than 12 months.

“We have mature assets with great potential, a stable political environment and many companies with experience that are still there,” Chittargueleca said during a panel discussion at AEW 2022, adding that “The Government has established new regulations and policies to make our country is competitive and we are carrying out a study on how to stay competitive in order to increase exploration partners and investments.

At the regional level, we will be sharing information with our brothers on how to boost exploration.

We are ready to negotiate also with interested investors to maximize investments throughout the industry and make Angola the final destination for energy capital.

Previously, it took 18 months to close a deal, but now with the reforms enacted, it will take less than a year to sign new E&P deals.” https://bit.ly/3W4xM8B Offering a new governance model for Angola’s oil and gas sector, the ANPG introduced legal and fiscal reforms, including Presidential Legislative Decree 5/18 for further exploration of development areas and production; Presidential Legislative Decree 6/18 for the development of marginal fields; Presidential Legislative Decree 7/18, which establishes the legal and tax framework applicable to natural gas; Presidential Decree 51/19 for the general bidding strategy for oil and gas concessions between 2019 and 2025; and Presidential Decree 249/21, which establishes the rules and procedures for the granting of oil concessions under permanent offer.

Fully committed to the development of sustainable hydrocarbon resources that support the energy transition, the ANPG approved a strategy to assign more than 50 blocks in the next six years to promote the exploration and production of the existing oil and gas fields in the country.

Angola currently has 16 concessions in the production phase, 11 concessions in the exploration phase, four deepwater concessions in the development phase and 20 concessions, 15 onshore and 5 in deepwater, under negotiation.

Additionally, the southern African country has 15 blocks on continuous bidding with the goal of awarding an additional 12 onshore blocks during the 2023 bidding cycle.