To this end, João Lourenço recommended that the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas and the National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency supervise and ensure the "implementation of Presidential Decree No. 271/20, of 20 October – Law on Local Content for the Oil Sector", according to a statement from CIPRA, to which VerAngola had access.
On the occasion, the head of state considered that the "desired success" will be achieved if all operators" participate "harmoniously" in the implementation of the decree.
"We will achieve the desired success if all operators in the guise of investors and local content companies participate harmoniously in its [decree] implementation", he said.
According to the Head of State, "the governance model has made the sector more transparent and competitive, making it more attractive for attracting national and foreign private investment", which has made it possible to "keep national oil production" above 1,100,000 barrels/day.
In order to ensure that national oil production continues to exceed this figure, João Lourenço said that the Government has established "important fiscal, contractual and operational measures, including the Bidding Strategy for New Oil Concessions for the period 2019-2025", which aims to award at least 50 new blocks, of which 30 have already been awarded.
He highlighted: "The important measures taken by the Executive are now having positive effects, with emphasis on the implementation of the Begonia projects in Block 17/06, Agogo in Block 15/06, Lifua, Ndola Sul in Block 0 and Kaminho in Block 20/21, which will contribute to the stabilization of oil production in the short and medium term".
Speaking about long-term measures, João Lourenço highlighted the "development of the Kaminho Project by Total Energies and its partners, as well as the activities in the Namibe Basin, where Exxon Mobile is executing its first exploration well", the statement reads.
With regard to the midstream and downstream segment, the government established as "priority objectives" the construction of three new refineries in Cabinda, Soyo and Lobito, as well as the construction of facilities to store liquid and gaseous fuels on land, with special emphasis on the Barra do Dande Ocean Terminal.
The President of the Republic stated that "these combined actions will enable the country to have a storage capacity of over one million cubic metres of fuel".
He also stated that "the liberalisation of the petroleum derivatives sector has opened up space for more operators to develop logistics, distribution and marketing activities for refined products", and called on "investors to take advantage of this business opportunity".
According to the Head of State, the decline in the country's oil production "represents one of the industry's greatest challenges", and stressed that the "Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas and its subordinate bodies have made efforts to implement programmes aimed at mitigating this situation, with a special focus on attracting new investments, to boost sustainable development throughout the national oil industry chain".
In his speech, he also "warned about the seriousness of the global climate crisis and its increasingly harmful effects on countries and peoples, and stressed that those involved in oil and gas exploration and production activities have been instructed to adopt measures to mitigate and offset greenhouse gas emissions", the statement reads.
Among the measures, João Lourenço highlighted the elimination or reduction of gas flaring, "the adoption of less polluting technology and operational equipment, the protection and conservation of flora and fauna, as well as the implementation of programmes for the creation of forests or reforestation".
João Lourenço also recommended that the oil and gas sector promote the sustainable exploitation of fossil fuel resources, as well as use "part of its profits and technical capacity" to gradually foster and strengthen the emergence of "an industry of renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, green hydrogen, biomass and others".
The conference runs until this Thursday, in Luanda, under the motto "Boosting Exploration and Development, to increase Production in Angola".
