*This article will be published in the upcoming AES: Angola COVID-19 Impact Report
To accommodate current constraints by COVID-19, the National Agency of Oil, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG) has adjusted its timeline for the 2020 oil and gas licensing round, as well as proposed a revised hydrocarbon strategy targeting local participation and frontier exploration.
The 2020 oil and gas licensing round is set to put three blocks in the Lower Congo basin and six blocks in the Kwanza basin on offer. While the announcement of the launch of the public tender was initially intended for the end of May 2020, the round is now planned for the fourth quarter of this year, with the award of licenses tentatively set for March 2021.
Data packages are currently available for the nine blocks, and the ANPG has been vocal about incentivizing local companies to participate. In July 2020, the Government reduced the petroleum income tax for national oil companies from 50% to 30% for production sharing contracts in the onshore basins of the Lower Congo and Kwanza. In addition, local companies will not be mandated to pay signature bonuses, nor finance corporate social responsibility projects.
Earlier in July this month, the ANPG also proposed a revised, comprehensive strategy for hydrocarbon exploration, which will be approved by the government following review by the Council of Ministers. The proposed strategy seeks to optimize Angola’s hydrocarbon exploration between 2020- 2025 through the analysis of the country’s full hydrocarbon potential, specifically within its onshore interior basins and offshore maritime platforms.
In attendance of the presentation of the strategy was Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, H.E. Diamantino Azevedo, Secretary of State for Petroleum, H.E. José Barroso and President of the Board of Directors of the ANPG H.E. Paulino Jerónimo.
This reviewed approach comes on the heels of Angola’s 2019-2025 licensing strategy released last year, which sought to incentivize upstream investment through the allocation of 55 blocks across six years, with an emphasis on marginal field development.
