TotalEnergies SE and its partners plan to invest $10 billion in Angola’s oil sector over the next five years in order to sustain production in the country.
The French energy company produces about 450,000 barrels of oil a day in Angola, more than 40% of the nation’s output, Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanné said at a conference in Luanda on Wednesday. Continued investment is needed to maintain that level and the funding will go toward existing developments and exploration, he said.
Total’s pledge is particularly welcome for Angola, which is trying to maintain output of about a million barrels a day. The country left the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in 2023 to be unfettered from output limits as part of its focus to drive investment into the sector and counter declining production from offshore fields.
Years ago Angola vied to be the continent’s biggest producer with Nigeria, which has increased output to 1.6 million barrels a day as its own reforms deliver results.
The government is preparing a competitiveness study that will examine oil-sector legislation and regulation, Angola’s Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas Minister Diamantino Azevedo told reporters late Wednesday on the sidelines of the conference. It’s also reviewing the way it awards oil blocks and aims to shorten the time between negotiations and activity.
Total is due to sign an extension of its Block 32 license, where “a lot of discoveries” are still to be brought into production, Pouyanné said. The company made a new discovery in Block 17 and signed agreements to enter new exploration blocks in Angola, it said on Thursday.
ExxonMobil Holdings Corp. made a third discovery in offshore Block 15, Angola’s National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency, or ANPG, said in a separate statement Wednesday.
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