Angola to auction first major onshore oil concessions

Angola, Africa’s second-biggest crude producer, is to sell production rights for the first major onshore oil concessions, national producer Sonangol said on Tuesday.

“Ten blocks will be allocated” after presentations to potential investors this month and next in Luanda, London and Houston, the firm said in a statement.

State-owned firm Sanangol will still own the blocks — seven of which are located in the Kwanza Basin and three in the Congo Basin — but firms will be granted exploration and production rights.

Angola lags behind Nigeria as Africa’s biggest producer of crude, but it already taps about 1.7 million barrels per day, almost exclusively from offshore production.

Oil accounts for about 96 percent of Angola’s exports and 46 percent of gross domestic product, according to the World Bank.

The Angolan economy grew by 5.6 percent in 2013. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that oil will help Angola’s economy grow by 6.3 percent in 2014.