Angola promised a high level of transparency as it introduced its first bidding round for offshore properties in nine years to a crowd of more than 100 interested observers in Houston, in its effort to raise annual production from 1.2 million barrels per day this year to 2 million by 2008. Since new laws went into effect at year-end 2004, the nation has set up a system that will guide it through annual bidding rounds for new and relinquished tracts. The new bid round for offshore blocks includes nonproducing parts of previously contracted blocks 1, 5 and 6 in shallow water, blocks 15, 17 and 18 in deep water and new Block 26 in the Benguela Basin off the nation's southern coast. The partial deepwater blocks already claim huge reserves on discoveries by major oil companies. Block 15, for example, is home to ExxonMobil's Xikomba and Kizomba A production with Kizomba B and C in the works. Total operates Block 17 with the Girassol light-oil and Dalia heavy-oil complexes. BP claims more than 1 billion barrels of oil reserves on its Greater Plutonio development in Block 18. "We're here because not all of the plays in Angola have been tested," Syanga Abilio, vice president, upstream, with Angolan national oil company Sonangol, said at the Houston program. The nation has introduced a new policy. It has stopped extending contracts on exploration areas automatically and will either renegotiate contracts with operators already installed on blocks, or it will ask those operators to relinquish nonproducing properties for production-sharing agreements by new operators, he added. Angola has a compelling story to tell, he said, with a success rate of more than 60% and 13 billion barrels in reserves already discovered. The bid deadline is February 15 and Sonangol will open bids the following day.

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