11 November 2018, News Wires — Capital expenditure among Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) national oil companies and SSA-focused international oil and gas companies are set to register a 13.1 percent growth in 2019, with combined spending reaching up to $24.3 billion.
That’s according to oil and gas analysts at Fitch Solutions Macro Research, who made the statement in a report sent to Rigzone.
“This spending growth will largely be driven by the development of large-scale LNG projects in Mozambique, against the backdrop of strong LNG demand growth and a promising reserves base in the east African country,” the analysts said in the report.
Spending will likely prove insufficient to offset field declines in mature producers such as Nigeria and Angola, however, according to the analysts.
“Capital spending in Nigeria is set to be mostly directed towards the maintenance of already-producing fields rather than towards the large-scale exploration or development projects that would be necessary to offset field declines,” the analysts stated.
“In early 2019, Angola will launch a new agency, the National Agency of Petroleum and Gas, which will oversee the sale of oil concessions. We believe that added transparency will be well received by foreign companies and generally improve the attractiveness of Angola’s business,” the analysts added.
“However, we do not anticipate this to be enough to counteract heavy decline rates seen across several Angolan oil fields, as a serious lack of development activity and exploratory investment will limit Angola’s long-term potential,” the analysts continued.
