Custódio said Angola has more than 15 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of monetizable gas beyond what is already committed to the Angola LNG plant at Soyo. Approximately 93% of gas produced last year was utilized, with routine flaring down to 7%. The New Gas Consortium, operated by Azule Energy with a designed capacity of 400 mmscf/d, is currently processing around 100 mmscf/d. A new fertilizer plant is also under discussion for Cabinda, with methanol production to follow.

“Our objective is to stop using gas as an export product and start using it more as a critical commodity that can support the development of our country,” said Manuel Barros, CEO of Sonangol Gas, speaking on an Anchoring Growth panel sponsored by Sistran. Sonangol holds majority ownership of the 600 km pipeline network feeding the Soyo complex, and marks 50 years in 2026. “Gas needs to be monetized in Angola to stimulate industrial activity. The role of Sonangol in this area is fundamental.”

Siemens Energy SVP Waheed Abbasi framed Angola’s gas ambitions as a direct contribution to the country’s fertilizer value chain. “If we assume a baseline of selling LNG is one times addition to your economy, if you convert it to ammonia, it's like a three times addition to your GDP. If you make urea, it's four times,” he said. “I don't believe in adding new sectors. You deepen the sectors that you're already in.” Amufert's Soyo fertilizer complex, on which Abbasi's Siemens Energy is partnered with Grupo Opaia, targets 1.4 million tons of granulated urea and 800,000 tons of ammonia.

Methanol follows a similar logic as fertilizer, with Azule Energy Subsurface Manager Pedro Sebastião noting the company spends about 1 million tons of methanol annually to maintain its operations, all of it purchased externally. “We have the legal framework defined, we have the gas master plan, we have a huge market around us that we actually can use if we're brave enough to build it first. The demand will come,” said Sebastião.

Amufert CFO Hugo Azevedo emphasized that the scale of the opportunity provided by the Gas Master Plan extends even further, to a bolstered export economy as well as a diversified domestic value chain. “The demand isn't Angolan demand,” he said, “the demand is global.”