For nearly three decades, Angola and the U.S. have enjoyedstrong diplomatic and trade relations,with the latter injecting much-neededtechnology, capital and know-how into health, infrastructure, industry and consumer goods sectors across the African nation. Yet perhaps no sector is more demonstrativeof the two countries’ mutualcooperationthan the energy industry, in which American firmshave helpedtransform Angola into the second-largest crude producer in sub-Saharan Africa, and in which Angola serves as the U.S.’s third-largest trading partner in the region, largely due to petroleum exports. 

From Chevron and ExxonMobil dominating the deep-offshore, to GE and Cummins bolstering power distribution networks, U.S. operators, service providers and investors have been instrumental in Angola’s rise into a regional energy powerhouse. Yet as the oil and gas sector undergoes global transformation,new opportunities in natural gas, renewables, off-grid power generation and energy storage have emerged to create opportunities for enhanced U.S.-Angola cooperation, to align on long-term sustainability objectives and to reinforce the U.S. as the primary partner of choice for Angolan energy developments. 

Angola’s natural gas value chain represents a key opportunity for foreign investment and exports. With four trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves, Angola is in the midst of a natural gas revolution, in which American oil majors are already playing a role. In November 2019, Chevron – in partnership with BP, Eni, Total and Sonangol – established the New Gas Consortium for the exploration and production of natural gas in Angola, representing the first upstream natural gas partnership in the country to date. The consortium has invested two billion dollars – in part due to Angola’s recent economic reforms – into the construction of a gas-processing plant, which will process 400 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and supply the Angola LNG plant and grid-connected Soyo combined-cycle power plant. It is clear that U.S. capital offers the potential to meet Angola’s rising power demand and support large-scale gas developments, which could in turn create onshore U.S. manufacturing jobs and stimulate equipment and services exports. In fact, the U.S. Export-Import Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Angola in April 2019 to explore guarantees of up to four billion dollars to support U.S. exports to Angola. 

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Source: EnergyCapitalandPower