Angola

Over the past three years, Angola has become the largest crude oil producing country in Africa, surpassing Nigeria in 2009 due to attacks on the oil infrastructure in the Niger Delta. Oil plays an important role in the Angolan economy, accounting for over 90% of export revenues and over 80% of GDP. Despite crude oil production limitations imposed by OPEC, Angola is expected to increase oil production and capacity in the short-term as new offshore projects come online and foreign investment continues to flow into the sector.

According to the Oil and Gas Journal , in January 2010 Angola had proven oil reserves of 9.5 billion barrels.  The majority of Angola’s known oil reserves are located offshore, partly because onshore exploration was limited as a result of the civil war.  Some proven reserves onshore are around the northern city of Soyo and in the disputed Cabinda Province.

In 2007, Angola formally became a member of OPEC and in 2009, held the Organization’s presidency. That year, Angola produced an average of 1.82 million bbl/d of crude oil making it the largest crude oil producer in Africa and placing it seventh among OPEC members. Despite increasing oil production capacity, Angola maintained output at approximately 200,000 bbl/d below capacity as a response to OPEC’s most recent production allocation (estimated to be between 1.52 million bbl/d and 1.66 million bbl/d) without cutting production by the full required amount.

Angola is still rebuilding infrastructure destroyed during the country’s 27-year civil war that ended in 2002. Security issues remain in the disputed oil-rich Cabinda province (see top left of map)  where separatist groups are still active.

President José Eduardo dos Santos has been in power since 1979. The most recent presidential elections were held in 1992 which led to a flare-up in the then ongoing conflict. Parliamentary elections were held in 2008 and in January of 2009, the Parliament approved a bill to abolish direct presidential elections. The oil licensing rounds that were initially planned to follow the presidential elections are now expected to go ahead in the short-term.

In recent years, China agreed to provide multi-billion dollar oil-backed loans to fund infrastructure development. Repayment of these costly loans depend heavily on international oil prices but at the same time, Chinese firms are playing an important role in Angolan recovery while Angola has become one of the leading suppliers of oil to China.

External links:

US Energy Information Administration