LUANDA, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Angola has said its reserves of declared marginal fields are estimated at four billion barrels of oil, the CEO of the country's National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG) Paulino Jeronimo said at the opening of The 8th African Petroleum Congress and Exposition (CAPE VIII ).
Jeronimo said the quantity means there is a lot to be developed to enable the stabilization of Angola's crude output and that the challenge is to boost and intensify the replacement of reserves with the aim to mitigate the sharp production decline.
Angola has about 820,000 square kilometres of sedimentary basin and that it lacks an exploration strategy to evaluate its entire extension, said Jeronimo Angola at the CAPE VIII, which is held in the country's capital Luanda from May 16 to 19.
He said the approved concessions granting strategy foresees the award of about 50 concessions from 2019 to 2025, with 25 of them being awarded in the past three years.
"The bidding strategy, besides looking at the offshore, in deep and shallow waters, and the onshore on the coast is also looking at the inland basins, with about 520 square kilometres of Sedimentary Basins, in which we already recognize the existence of asphalt on the surface," Jeronimo said.
Jeronimo added that until a few years ago the Angolan State detained the gas exploration rights, however, recently it decided to give the rights to investors, which enabled the implementation of two large projects and the creation of nine gas consortiums.
Angola's oil production reached its peak in 2008, when it produced 1.9 million barrels of oil per day, while the current output was estimated at 1.2 million barrels per day, he said.
The oil production decline was due to the lack of exploration and non-development of marginal fields since over the past 20 to 30 years, several fields were discovered but were not economically viable in the light of existing contracts, he added.
The African Petroleum Congress and Exhibition is the largest and the most influential oil and gas event in Africa, which seeks to provide investors with the opportunity to have deeper information and knowledge of the oil and gas industry in Africa. ■