Financing that next phase could receive a major boost as early as November. African Energy Chamber Executive Chairman NJ Ayuk announced during the AOG opening that he had been informed that Afreximbank and the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization (APPO) will launch the long-awaited Africa Energy Bank that month.

“This will allow companies to do the big work,” Ayuk said, calling for continued exploration and investment across the continent. “Always explore, keep exploring.”

APPO Secretary General Farid Ghezali echoed these remarks, emphasizing in his opening address that mobilizing African capital will be essential if countries such as Angola are to translate their resource wealth into broader economic development.

“Resources alone do not create prosperity. What matters is our ability to turn these resources into opportunity,” he said. “Institutions such as the African Energy Bank can help mobilize capital, support strategic projects and finance Africa’s development.”

The financing announcement comes as Angola advances its 2025-2050 Hydrocarbon Strategy, targeting more exploration, faster project development and sustained production. Alcides Andrade, Executive Administrator of the National Oil, Gas & Biofuels Agency (ANPG), said the Hydrocarbon Strategy is currently being reviewed as Angola competes for increasingly selective global capital.

“Our objective is not only to award blocks, but to transform blocks into investment, investment into discovery, and discovery into production,” Andrade said.

The ANPG projects an upstream investment pipeline of $70 billion over the coming five years, supported by opportunities spanning offshore acreage, underexplored onshore basins and mature producing assets. Andrade highlighted that the regulator will also continue the Permanent Offer Regime while working to simplify procedures, improve contractual models and reduce decision-making timelines.

National oil company Sonangol is set to play an increasingly operational role in this next phase as the company celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2026. Sonangol Board Member Osvaldo Inacio said the company is now present in 42 oil concessions and operates 11, while expanding across gas, petrochemicals and other industrial activities.

“There is a principle which synthesizes our responsibility: produce to transform,” Inacio said. “It is not enough to have resources. It is fundamental to develop the capacity to transform them into added value.”

According to Inacio, Sonangol invested $10.5 billion between 2021 and 2025, while its portfolio grew from $995 million in 2022 to $3.4 billion in 2025. He said the company has also increased its net volumes by 200,000 barrels per day in recent years and processed 50,000 km² of 3D seismic.

That expansion extends downstream, where Angola is seeking greater domestic refining, storage and distribution capacity. Luís Fernandes, Director General of petroleum derivatives regulator Instituto Regulador dos Derivados do Petróleo (IRDP), identified energy security, domestic value creation, competition and product quality as central pillars for the sector.

“Domestic refining will reduce the dependence on importation,” Fernandes said, adding that Angola needs “an integrated logistics network that connects refineries with terminals.”

The recently completed Cabinda Refinery and ongoing Lobito Refinery development – scheduled to come online in 2027 - form part of this strategy, while IRDP sees further investment opportunities in storage, pipelines, distribution and lubricant manufacturing.

With Angola’s long-term hydrocarbons strategy taking shape and new African financing mechanisms emerging, Angolan energy leaders used the opening of AOG 2026 to make a central message clear: the next phase of the country’s oil and gas development will be built around investment, exploration, domestic capacity and execution.