In light of this renewed interest, the Angola Oil & Gas (AOG) conference – taking place September 3-4 in Luanda – will spotlight emerging opportunities across the country’s onshore Kwanza basin. Uniting operators, data and technology experts, Angolan government and financiers, the event facilitates engagement and dealmaking in support of Angola’s onshore resurgence.  

Recent Acquisitions Fuel Onshore Development

Exploration and production company Corcel signed two agreements to accelerate the development of Block KON 16 in Angola’s onshore Kwanza basin in May 2025. Bringing the company’s ownership stake in the block to 71.5%, the agreements strengthen the company’s balance sheet while allowing capital to be re-allocated to de-risk and fund exploration activities planned in 2026. The deals include a $500,000 agreement signed with energy company Inktank Global DMCC for an additional 30% gross interest in Block KON 16 as well as a farm-in with Sintana Energy for a 5% stake in exchange for $2.5 million. This signals Sintana Energy’s entry into Angola.

Meanwhile, Nigerian conglomerate Walcot Group signed a production sharing contract with the ANPG in April 2025 for three onshore oil blocks in Angola, including a 10% stake for Block KON 13 in the Kwanza basin. Block KON 13 is operated by Nigerian oil and gas firm Oando Energy Resources, following the company’s entry into the Angolan market in February 2025.

Seismic Campaigns Support Upcoming Exploration

In collaboration with Angola’s national oil company Sonangol, Corcel restarted intervention activities at the Tobias-13 and Tobias-14 wells in Block KON 11 this year. The companies are targeting pre-salt and post-salt leads, leveraging historic success at Tobias-13 to unlock new deposits. A consortium of consultancy firms including Striped-Horse and Metatek collected and processed gravimetric and magnometric data for KON 11 in 2024, allowing the identification of geological structures that may contain hydrocarbon resources.

In addition to KON 11, the companies collected data for blocks KON 12 and KON 15, with preliminary results expected in 2025. Meanwhile, at KON 16, Corcel plans to acquire 300 km of 2D seismic data while analyzing existing seismic collected in 2024 to deepen geological understanding of the block. The company completed the data acquisition phase of the Enhanced Full Tensor Gradiometry Survey at KON 16 in 2024 and is pursuing a 2D seismic program in 2025.

The Return of Onshore Production

Occupying an area of 25,000 km², the onshore Kwanza basin is subdivided into 23 blocks and has a history of successful oil production. Lack of investment and a shift to deepwater development in the late 1990s impacted output, but recent efforts by the ANPG to revitalize the market is already turning this trend around. The Kwanza basin, in particular, offers substantial leads, with a proven petroleum system and demonstrated continuation of the well-understood offshore system enticing exploration. While existing wells targeted post-salt plays, pre-salt plays across the basin present oil shows and potential discoveries. Companies such as TGS offer extensive 2D coverage of the onshore Kwanza basin, including 2,589 km of 2D PSTM and PSDM data. The company announced at AOG 2024 last October that it is reprocessing its Kwanza basin dataset, aiming to support future exploration efforts across the basin.