Angola will move oil and gas licensing away from state-owned Sonangol into the new National Agency of Petroleum and Gas in the first half of 2019 in a reorganization due completion the following year.
According to Reuters, Oil Minister Diamantino Azevedo said Sonangol will focus on exploration, production, refining, and distribution of oil and gas.
The new agency will solicit bids, manage production-sharing agreements, and represent the state share in profits from oil and gas production.
The government is trying to streamline oil and gas licensing and procurement of goods and services to bolster oil production, which has fallen to 1.5 million from about 1.8 million in 2015.
