Angola failed to meet government forecasts for oil production in July as its crude output slipped below 1 million barrels per day (bpd) for the first time in two and a half years and for the first time since one of Africa’s biggest oil producers quit OPEC.
Angola’s oil production averaged 998,757 bpd in July, compared to the expected output of 1,073,542 bpd, data by the National Agency for Petroleum and Gas, ANPG, has shown.
Last month saw the first time since March 2023 that Angola’s oil output dipped below the 1-million-bpd mark.
It is also the first time below 1-million-bpd production since the African producer quit OPEC, effective January 2024, as it wanted to boost output but was constrained by the OPEC+ quotas and agreements.
However, Angola has been struggling to materially boost its oil production even after exiting OPEC in January 2024.
Angola’s motivation to quit OPEC after 16 years was a spat with the OPEC and OPEC+ members about production quotas. At a meeting in mid-2023, Angola and Nigeria were given lower crude oil production quotas as part of the OPEC+ agreement, after the two producers had underperformed and failed to pump to their quotas for years, due to a lack of investment in new fields and maturing older oilfields.
Angola disagreed with the lower production cap it was handed and left OPEC with a pledge that it will boost output.
A year and a half later, Angola’s output is where it was seven months before it quit the cartel—a fact signaling the country’s struggles to materially raise production, even if unlimited by any OPEC quota.
Angola’s oil production peaked in 2008 at about 2 million bpd. Output has declined in recent years, due to underinvestment in offshore resources due to higher development costs, which have prompted many companies to overlook the African oil producer as an investment destination.
With oil production stagnating, Angola is betting big on natural gas developments to monetize more of its fossil fuel resources.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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