Alexandre Barroso, who was speaking at the end of the presentation of the results of Angolan exports of oil and gas in the second quarter of this year, said that there had been a reduction in demand for Angolan oil by Chinese refineries, but at the end of the second quarter "it has already recovered".
"The average price of our crude was higher than what was expected and we no longer have this difficulty in relation to Iranian crude," Alexandre Barroso said, stressing that maintaining this trend "depends on the market, which is dynamic and volatile".
"And we will monitor the market and do everything so that our branches have the necessary acceptance," he stressed.
In the second quarter of 2021, the price of Angolan crude reached a low of $60.62 per barrel and a high of $76.49 per barrel, reaching a quarterly average of $68.62 a barrel.
Angolan crude saw an increase of 11.25 percent compared to the previous quarter and 151.85 percent compared to the same period in 2020. The most traded crude in the period were Dahlia with 11.57 percent, Mustard with 10.77 percent, and Nemba with 9.63 percent, followed by Cabinda and Sunflower.
In relation to efforts to halt the decline in the country's oil production, the Secretary of State for Petroleum underlined that a series of measures are being taken, stressing that "there is no single solution".
"It is a set of measures that the Government, specifically the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, and its partners are taking. The first step is to increase the number of drilling rigs, so that we can have new production," he said.
Alexandre Barroso also pointed out that there are also some maintenance plans for the facilities, which have somewhat influenced the delays in production, however, by now there are already means and programs ready to move forward with this preventive maintenance, "which will also allow a substantial improvement in production levels".
"But the main thing is what the National Oil and Gas Agency is doing, we really have to bet more on exploration and, therefore, we are going to bid for new blocks, we have already done it in 2019, we did it a short time ago for 'onshore' blocks and later this year there will be a new tender for 'offshore' blocks," he guaranteed.
According to the governor, "these are the actions that can really change the downward trend in production levels that we see today," emphasizing that the exploration programs are medium and long term.
"From the moment that a certain area is adjudicated until we have new production it may take between seven to 10 years, unless they are mature and already known fields, but in new areas it may take up to this time so that we can then have new production," he said.
