The outlook was presented on September 9 during Angola Oil & Gas 2026 in Luanda, where Sonangol CEO Ricardo Van-Deste joined senior executives from SLB, Chevron, TotalEnergies, Petrobras, Shell and the ANPG to discuss Angola’s deepwater potential, investment environment and strategy for sustaining production.

“The Kwanza Basin has the potential to be a game-changer,” Van-Deste said. “We are moving forward with appraisal and exploration activity in the basin, and we believe these activities can lead to the next wave of frontier deepwater developments.” He said the Congo Basin would remain important for maintaining Angola’s production at around 1 million barrels per day (bpd), while Kwanza has the potential to become the country’s next major growth frontier.

The comments follow Sonangol’s latest appraisal activity at the Katambi-2 well in Block 24, which confirmed a significant pre-salt gas resource and strengthened the company’s understanding of Angola’s offshore potential. With the appraisal work now completed, Sonangol is turning greater attention to the Kwanza Basin, where Van-Deste said the company aims to unlock the resources needed to underpin Angola’s next generation of deepwater developments.

TotalEnergies is already advancing the Kwanza Basin’s first major deepwater oil development through Kaminho in Block 20/11, where the Cameia and Golfinho fields are being developed through an FPSO and subsea production system. The project’s FPSO reached 50% completion in April, with first oil targeted for late 2027 and production expected to reach 75,000 bpd.

The renewed exploration push comes as international companies increase their exposure to Angola. Chevron Exploration Director Emmanuelle Garinet said the company had “doubled its position in Angola over the past two years while increasing its exploration budget by 50%,” including more than $100 million invested after entering Blocks 49 and 50 and acquiring large-scale 3D seismic data.

SLB Angola Country Manager João Wolo Joaquim Domingoes said the combination of new projects and exploration success was generating “a lot of excitement” around Angola’s deepwater sector. He highlighted the Agogo project, Kaminho development and Atombe-02 gas discovery, saying the results were demonstrating that Angola has “a lot more resources that can be explored.”

That activity is being matched by a broader push to strengthen the domestic capabilities supporting exploration and development. Petrobras General Manager for Exploratory Projects Valéria Cerqueira Conde pointed to the company’s investment in local capacity and supplier partnerships, saying “we would not have attained the success we have seen without these partnerships in the country.”

Meanwhile, ANPG Executive Administrator Ana Miala said Angola’s hydrocarbons strategy remains under public consultation and is intended to provide greater predictability for investors. She said the strategy will focus on maintaining production through 2050, developing new discoveries, monetizing gas resources and opening new exploration areas while continuing to build local capacity.

For Sonangol, the Kwanza Basin is central to that strategy. Van-Deste said the company remains focused on exploration as “the foundation for everything we do in this business,” with the current drilling program intended to establish whether Kwanza can deliver the next generation of Angola’s deepwater growth.