Oil and gas company Afentra, which called off talks with potential suitors this month, is pushing ahead with onshore and offshore exploration aiming to boost production in Angola, its CEO said on Thursday.
Sharply higher crude oil prices due to the Iran war and disrupted crude exports via the Strait of Hormuz are helping underpin Afentra's strategy in Angola, sub-Saharan Africa's second-biggest crude producer, CEO Paul McDade said.
He said it expects to reach a final investment decision by late this year or early 2027 for the development of up to three discoveries in offshore Block 3/24, which it operates.
"Our timeline on that is to try to get FID by end-2026, early 2027. And again, our aim would be first oil towards the end of '27," he told Reuters.
It contains 10 oil and gas discoveries, including finds made by TotalEnergies two decades back but never developed, and is close to Afentra's producing oilfields.
Afentra expects to get the results of its Pacassa SW well, currently being drilled in Block 3/05, by July, before a second well is drilled in close proximity at Impala.
"If we were able to identify maybe 50 million (barrels) of recoverable oil, that's like a 50 per cent increase on the current book reserves," he said.
McDade also touted Afentra's onshore prospects in the Kwanza Basin, where exploration last took place in the 1980s.
"We're looking at the prospectivity of the whole basin...our target there is really to be drilling exploration wells by 2027."
(Reporting by Wendell Roelf; editing by Nilutpal Timsina and Jason Neely)