No new tender: Angola
Angola tender unlikely
Angola is unlikely to open a tender for new oil exploration licences this year due to low oil prices, a board member for state-run oil player Sonangol said.
The last licensing round for oil blocks was suspended in the first half of last year before the country's first parliamentary election since the end of a civil war in 2002.
Since then, ExxonMobil, Total and BP have invested billions of dollars to tap into Angola's deep offshore oil reserves.
But a sharp drop in oil prices last year may hamper investments this year, a Reuters report said.
"It is unlikely to happen this year, not with oil prices at these levels," Fernando Roberto said.
He did not say when Angola would hold new tenders.
Angola has said that oil prices of up $75 per barrel would enable oil companies to reinvest into the sector.
Oil rose nearly $2 to top $71 a barrel today but is still trading at less than half of last year's high of over $147 per barrel.
As a member of Opec, Angola has also had to cut down on its oil production.
The group agreed to curb crude supplies by 4.2 million barrels per day, from last September, in order to stabilise oil prices.
Angola expects to produce around 1.79 million bpd this year, down from 2 million last year, according to the country's revised budget plan for the year.