Angola Oil
Figure 7. Crude Oil Production, 1980-87
Source: Based on information from United Stated, Central Intelligence
Agency, International Energy Statistical Review,
November 27, 1984, 1; and September 27, 1988, 1.
As of December 1984, the country's total proven
recoverable
reserves of crude oil were estimated by Sonangol at 1.6
billion
barrels. This amount was considered sufficient to maintain
production at 1986 levels until the end of the century.
Most
Angolan oil is light and has a low sulfur content. As the
only oil
producer in southern Africa, Angola has promoted
cooperation in
energy matters on behalf of SADCC.
The first oil exploration concession was granted by the
Portuguese authorities in 1910, but commercial production
did not
begin until 1956 when the Petroleum Company of Angola
(Companhia de
Petróleos de Angola--Petrangol) started operations in the
Cuanza
River Basin
(see
fig. 3). The company later discovered oil
onshore
in the Congo River Basin and became the operator for most
of the
onshore fields in association with Texaco, an American
company, and
Angol (a subsidiary of Portugal's SACOR). At about the
same time,
a subsidiary of the American-based Gulf Oil, the Cabinda
Gulf Oil
Company (Cabgoc), began explorations in the Cabinda area
in 1954
and started production in 1968. Production rose from 2.5
million
tons in 1969 to 8.2 million tons in 1973, while exports
nearly
quadrupled in volume. Because of the added benefit of the
1973 oil
price increase, the value of oil exports was almost twelve
times
higher in 1973 than in 1969, and oil finally surpassed
coffee as
the principal export. Crude oil production in the early
1980s
dipped somewhat as a result of decreased investments. By
1983,
however, production had rebounded and thereafter continued
to set
new output records
(see
fig. 7).
Data as of February 1989
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