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Angola to double oil by 2010
David McKay
Posted: Sun, 23 Apr 2006

[miningmx.com] -- ANGOLA is expected to double its oil production within four years, say analysts, cementing its position as a major African producer of energy. Henry Tchilinguirian, senior oil market analyst at the International Energy Agency, says output will increase to 2,2m barrels/day by 2010. Production last year was 1,19m barrels/day. Tchilinguirian also expects most of Angola’s additional output to come from deep-water sources.

“We still have a lot of oil to discover,” says Severino Cardoso, director of exploration at Sonangol, Angola’s state-owned oil producer. There are an estimated 12bn barrels of oil resources in Angola, but Cardoso says that could increase 100%, partly through exploitation of the country’s ultra-deep reserves. “The new century is in ultra deep water,” says Cardoso.

African oil investment expected to be US$80bn
The Nineties were typified by exploration in deep-water exploration blocks. As part of its new strategy, Sonangol will award 23 licences by fourth quarter 2006 in an effort to prove the commercial viability of its onshore oil resources.

The licences are part of an effort by Angola to grow its oil production to 2m barrels/day by 2008 from its current 1,45m barrels/day output. Potential onshore oil resources are located in a 1 000km2 area known as the Kwanza basin, first identified in 1955. Kwanza is one of four main basins that include the prolific Congo basin.

Jack Holliday, an upstream petroleum consultant, says that Africa’s oil output would increase in percentage and absolute terms over the next three decades from 6m barrels/day (8% of global oil supply) to 14,4m barrels/day (12%).

Says Holliday: “African oil investment is expected to be US$80bn between 2001 and 2010.” But investment was forecast to increase to $120bn between 2011 and 2020 and by a further $20bn in the 10 years after that.