Angola's proven oil reserves estimated at 12.667 bn barrels

The proven oil reserves of Angola are estimated at 12.667 billion barrels due to new discoveries, state news agency Angop reported on Wednesday. The information was revealed by Angolan Oil Minister, Botelho de Vasconcelos during the annual banquet of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) in New Orleans, US "These discoveries were made in shallow, deep and ultra-deep waters", the minister said. The official said the production average of Angola was estimated at 1.65 million barrels per day, as a result of the expected increase of the production in existing oil fields. Earlier this week, Angola's state oil company Sonangol announced it intended to hold still this year and 2014 a series of public tenders for oil exploration in the terrestrial zones of the Kwanza River and Bas Congo basins. The public tenders will bid at least 10 oil-wells (also dubbed as blocks), including seven in the Kwanza River basin and three in the Bas Congo basin. The process will take place under the law number 10/04 of Nov. 12, 2004 and the Decree number 48/06 of Sept. 1, 2006, which regulates the holding of public tenders in the oil sector, the company said. Sonangol, which enjoys research and production rights on liquid and gas hydrocarbons in the whole of the Angolan territory, will soon announce the start of the pre-qualification process and the subsequent date for the start of the public tenders for operators in the crude-oil exploration area. Currently, Angola rivals Nigeria as the second largest oil producer in Africa.