An official on Thursday said Angola would make plans to maintain its crude oil production of 1.1 million barrels a day into 2024.

Belarmino Chitangueleca, the executive director at the National Agency of Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), said the country hoped to maintain its goal even as it looks to stabilise declining output from mature fields.

Mr Chitangueleca told Reuters in an interview that Angola would announce the winning bidders for its latest onshore licensing round by March.

Africa’s second-largest crude oil exporter has seen output decline steadily since hitting a peak of two million bpd in 2008. It is looking to diversify more into gas.

Mr Chitangueleca said the country could set up a second LNG train, which processes and converts natural gas into a super-cooled liquid, to export additional gas, but did not give a timeframe.

He said, “I am sure we will have enough gas to justify adding a second train. We will capitalise on this opportunity.”

Earlier, the chief executive of Azule Energy, Angola’s largest private oil and Gas Company, said the first output from the group’s New Gas Consortium (NGC) was expected around February 2026, five months ahead of schedule.

NGC includes Chevron (CVX.N), TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA) and BP (BP.L), among other partners and will be Angola’s first project to produce non-associated gas, meaning gas not normally found with oil discoveries.

The gas produced will be connected to the Angola LNG terminal.

(Reuters/NAN)