"Our big fight now is not to increase production, it is to stabilize production at a million or so [barrels]", said Diamantino Azevedo, when responding to deputies of the National Assembly's Economy and Finance Commission, in a parliamentary hearing to address the situation in the sector he heads.
The holder of the Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas portfolio highlighted that "it is natural" the decline in production that Angola has registered for a few years.
"It's like a glass of water, we drink it, it runs out, we have to replace it. It's like oil, we've been exploring for years, the reserves are running out, we have to look for it and if we're lucky we find it and we don't always find it at the same rate as we withdraw", he said.
According to the minister, "it is necessary to invest", because Angola, after "golden years of the oil industry", had a long period without new investments.
"We had the golden years of the oil industry, then there was a year in which we relaxed, a long period in which we relaxed, almost no exploration, and we practically had years without block bidding and this also contributed to the decline", highlighted Diamantino Azevedo, reinforcing that the biggest objective "is to stabilize production for a few more years" at just over one million barrels per day.
The government official said that the State is, at this point, without the financial power to make large investments, so "it has to look for partners", which implies contractual, political and legal stability.
Among the strategies for stabilizing oil production and reducing the decline in production, the minister said there are several instruments, such as the decree on increasing production, already submitted to parliament for due legislative authorization.
"It is an incentive that we want to give to operators, for them to produce beyond what is contractually established, and, in case of positive results, this additional production will be shared between the executive and the operators", he declared.
One of the recommendations of the National Assembly's Economy and Finance Committee was for this sector to pay greater attention to the decarbonization process of the national oil industry.
"It's a recommendation and we're going to look at it more carefully, but we also provided a clarification here to the deputies – who possibly didn't understand everything that is being done in terms of decarbonization –, our country is doing very well", he said.
Diamantino Azevedo said that Angola is committed to this process, has legal instruments and is part of several international initiatives, with operating partners.
The Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas emphasized that Angola will not accept "third party agendas regarding oil production".
"We will continue to produce oil, no one will stop us from producing oil, but we will be increasingly careful with environmental issues, with decarbonization, with the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and also with all other aspects that allow us to we can continue to produce our oil, respecting the environment, taking into account climate change", he stated.
