The 10 blocks that Angolan oil company Sonangol plans to put up for auction contain more than half the known oil reserves in Angola, the director for exploration of the state company, Severino Cardoso, said Monday in Luanda.

After the first presentation of the potential of the 10 blocks, seven of which are located in the Kwanza River basin and the others in the Congo River basin, Cardoso noted that their reserves were estimated at least 7 billion barrels of oil.

Cited by Portuguese news agency Lusa, Paulino Jerónimo, of Sonangol’s board of directors, noted the Angolan company’s interest in having Angolan businesspeople taking part in the auction, but admitted that the oil industry required intensive capital investment.

He gave the example of offshore oil blocks requiring investment of US$100 million, whilst onshore blocks needed between US$15 million and US$20 million.

To highlight the potential available capacity, the Sonangol director explained that in the past Fina and Total had oil wells in the Kwanza and Congo basins and that in the Canguela Norte well alone, Fina had extracted 100 million barrels of oil.

Jerónimo also announced that the company was planning a second auction for five offshore blocks, four of which in the Kwanza basin and the other in the Congo basin.

These five blocks will only be auctioned off in two and half to four years’ time, and in the meantime will be the focus of geophysical or geological surveying by Sonangol, he said. (macauhub)