Angolan Oil Reserves

Angola's approach to developing their oil industry makes good sense to me.

Analysis: Angolan oil piques interest

by Carmen Gentile
Miami (UPI) Sep 20, 2007

Angola's national oil company announced that 10 blocks will be offered for tender in a licensing round planned for late 2007, part of its efforts to capitalize on Africa's No. 2 oil reserves.

The offering by Angola's state-run Sonangol E.P. will extend into early 2008 and included both onshore and offshore blocks. The state firm relies heavily on production-sharing agreements with foreign oil companies to maximize its untapped oil potential, Oil Minister Jose Botelho Vasconcelos said.

"We are a Third World economy, and have difficulty obtaining capital," he said this year, according to the Washington Post. "We therefore prefer production-sharing agreements because government investment is only required once a discovery has been declared economically viable."

Sonangol's latest offering will likely pique the interests of both traditional petroleum powerhouses and newcomers hoping to procure alternative oil sources to Middle Eastern suppliers.

Angola's estimated 10 billion to 20 billion barrels of reserves has...(complete article here).

With tightening supplies due to growing economies, Angola's reserves look very attractive. It also is far enough away from the Middle East to provide some supply security. I hope U.S. companies end up with a big chunk of this, but the Chinese will be very aggressive.

Using private money to develop their oil production and distribution capacity is smart on the part of Angola. Why us government dollars when private industry will do it for you?