(Bloomberg) – Shell Plc will invest about $1 billion on new oil blocks in Angola as the southern African nation seeks to boost production that’s dwindled over the years, the chairman of the oil regulator said.
Diamantino Azevedo, Angola’s Minister of Petroleum.
Shell and Angola’s National Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels signed an exclusive agreement for exploration rights covering offshore Blocks 19, 34 and 35, along with 14 additional blocks in ultra-deepwater areas.
The funds will be used for seismic surveys and drilling, ANPG’s Paulino Jeronimo told reporters at an event attended by the oil giant in Luanda, the capital on Monday.
Angola’s priority remains keeping crude production above one million barrels a day through marginal field development and incremental output projects, he said.
Africa’s third largest oil producer has been courting investment to stave off a steep decline in output, a key source of government revenue. In July, it briefly fell below one million barrels a day for the first time since Angola quit OPEC two years ago, before recovering.
ANPG also signed another deal with Shell, alongside Chevron Corp. and Sonangol EP, in September for Block 33 in the in the Lower Congo basin, off the coast of Angola, marking its return to the nation after a two-decade absence.
The one-million-barrel target is based on annual averages and will remain in place for the next several years, Minerals and Petroleum Minister Diamantino Azevedo said at Monday’s event.
