Angola Secures $5.1bn Offshore Oil Investment as Azule Energy Backs Production Growth

The final investment decision on Greater PAJ is one of Angola's largest in years. It lands as the country fights to slow a production slide that has nearly halved output since 2008 and is straining the national budget.

Angola has secured a fresh $5.1 billion investment in its oil industry after Azule Energy and its partners approved the Greater PAJ offshore development, one of the country’s largest energy projects in recent years.

The final investment decision (FID), announced in Luanda, paves the way for the development of the Greater PAJ project across offshore Blocks 31 and 31/21, which are estimated to contain 252 million barrels of recoverable oil reserves.

The project is being developed by Azule Energy, the BP and Eni joint venture, alongside Equinor, Sonangol E&P and Angola’s National Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG).

Greater PAJ is Angola’s first integrated cross-block oil development, combining resources from neighbouring concessions under a shared infrastructure model.

The development will bring together five offshore fields - Palas, Astraea and Juno in Block 31, as well as Urano and Dione in Block 31/21. It will include 17 wells, comprising 10 oil producers and seven water injectors, linked to a new floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel with a processing capacity of 95,000 barrels per day.

First oil is expected in the first half of 2029.

Joseph Murphy, Chief Executive Officer of Azule Energy, described the project as a major milestone for both the company and Angola’s energy sector, noting that it would help sustain production and reinforce the country’s role as a key energy supplier.

The investment comes as Angola continues to pursue policies aimed at reversing production declines from mature fields and maintaining output of around one million barrels per day.

Why it matters: an economy fighting a falling oil curve

Oil is not one industry among many in Angola. It provides the great majority of export earnings and government revenue, which is why the shape of the production curve is effectively the shape of the public finances. That curve has been pointing down for years. Output peaked at about 2 million barrels a day in 2008 and has since fallen to around 1 million, dipping below that mark in mid-2025 for the first time since the country left OPEC.

The decline owes more to geology than to politics. Mature deepwater fields are running dry, and for years high costs and a heavy government take discouraged the new drilling that might have offset them.

With crude trading near the level Angola needs to balance its budget, every barrel of future production matters to a treasury that has weighed seeking help from the International Monetary Fund.

The oil minister has called slowing the decline the government's single biggest challenge. This backdrop gives a single FID its deep value. Greater PAJ is among the largest upstream commitments announced in Angola in years, and it is a vote of confidence in the country's ability to keep attracting deepwater capital.

Investment strengthens Azule Energy’s expansion plans

The project marks the latest phase of Azule Energy’s growth strategy since the company was formed in 2022 through the merger of BP’s Angolan business and Eni Angola.

Azule currently produces about 220,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day and accounts for roughly 20 per cent of Angola’s oil production. The Greater PAJ development follows other major investments, including the Agogo Integrated West Hub and the New Gas Consortium project, Angola’s first non-associated gas venture.

The approval also signals continued investor confidence in Africa’s offshore oil sector despite growing global pressure to accelerate the energy transition.

Local industry to benefit from the development

The project is also meant to put work into the Angolan economy. Azule estimates it will generate about 1.8 million man-hours of local content, including the fabrication of more than 6,500 tonnes of structures, with work taking place at Saipem's Ambriz yard in Angola.

Six contracts signed at the ceremony cover the FPSO, subsea systems, risers, flowlines, rigid pipes and installation, awarded to firms including Baker Hughes, OneSubsea, TechnipFMC, Saipem, Vallourec and CIMC Raffles.

The investment is among the largest upstream commitments announced in Angola in recent years and underscores the country’s efforts to attract capital while extending the lifespan of its offshore petroleum industry.