Angola Gas Find Leaves Returns and Ownership Unclear

Angola’s Katambi-2 well flowed 41 million standard cubic feet of gas and 1,160 barrels of condensate a day during a test. Yet no development plan, partners, investment figure, reserve estimate or first-gas schedule has been made public. The results came out on August 6, 2026. Katambi-2 remains a test result, not a producing field.

State oil company Sonangol and national oil agency ANPG reported the test from Block 24 in the Benguela Basin, about 370 kilometres southwest of Luanda. The figures point to a potential gas resource, but they don’t say who would pay for development or what returns the project could deliver.

State Company, Unsettled Returns

Sonangol chairman Sebastião Gaspar Martins called Katambi-2 a “pure gas field” in an interview Novo Jornal published on October 17, 2026. He described the discovery as a historic milestone for Angola’s oil sector and said gas was an important raw material in strong international demand.

Martins said Angola would use the gas for domestic needs first, with some possibly going to export markets. That lays out a possible order of use, but the company hasn’t announced export volumes, buyers, pricing arrangements or a development timetable. The information released by the agency and state oil company leaves the project’s prospective economic gains unspecified.

ANPG said an early assessment pointed to potential flow of more than 100 million cubic feet a day. That’s an assessment, not the measured test rate. Katambi-2 flowed 41 million standard cubic feet a day during testing, equal to about 1.16 million cubic metres daily, or roughly 15 billion cubic feet over a year if the rate held steady. ANPG’s early assessment works out to about 2.8 million cubic metres daily.

The test found no water and no hydrogen sulphide. ANPG called it Angola’s first full flow test of a non-associated gas reservoir, where gas occurs separately rather than as a by-product of oil. These findings describe the well’s test conditions; they don’t establish production or a commercial development plan.

Fishing Concerns and Regional Routes

Sonangol said oil and gas work could coexist with fishing and ruled out negative effects on the fishing industry. Concerns about fish stocks along the Benguela coast have persisted since 2019, when Angola launched an international tender for offshore blocks. The article offers no independent assessment of how Katambi-2 development might affect fishing.

Angola produces about 1 million barrels of oil a day and left OPEC on January 1, 2024. The Lobito rail corridor, backed by the United States and linked to the Atlantic through the port of Lobito, runs along the same coast as the well. Available information identifies the corridor’s backing and route, but doesn’t connect it to Katambi-2 or any gas export plan.

BP drilled Katambi-1, an exploration well, in 2014 and 2015. Katambi-2 was drilled 1.3 kilometres away and crossed two productive layers with a combined thickness of about 331 metres. Average porosity measured 9% to 12%, and the new well had better permeability than the first.

Testing established a flow rate and geological measurements, while leaving the project’s partners, investment, reserves, schedule and eventual output undisclosed. Until the company makes a development plan public, Katambi-2’s gas remains a tested prospect rather than a producing asset.