Angola revival stalled by global demand slump
Sharply lower oil prices mean the West African country will find it difficult to finance the investment needed to replace its ageing offshore fields
Slumping oil prices and weak demand are reducing investment in Angola’s oil sector, hastening a decline in production that could cut the country’s output by more than a third by 2029. Angolan president Joao Lourenco, elected in 2017, has sought to reform the country’s sprawling, corrupt bureaucracy and boost dwindling crude production. He created a standalone industry regulator, the National Oil and Gas Agency, separating out the function from NOC Sonangol, and cut corporate taxes in an effort to attract more interest in the country’s costly and risky deepwater marginal fields. “Going into 2020, it was looking pretty positive,” says Adam Pollard, a senior upstream analyst at consultancy Wood

Also in this section
12 February 2025
The oilfield expansion provides a fresh influx of revenue but will strain its cooperation with OPEC+ and fails to mask deeper issues with the economy and investors
11 February 2025
Improving compliance among the group and wider group is offset by production increases in outliers Libya, Venezuela and Iran
10 February 2025
The country wants to kickstart its upstream but first needs to persuade investors to foot the bill
10 February 2025
The February 2025 issue of Petroleum Economist is out now!