Angola to

Angola plans to start exploring for onshore oil in the enclave of Cabinda sometime next month, according to state-owned oil company Sonangol. Sonangol will first carry out seismic studies in the regions of Necuto and Buco Zau to determine the existence of oil. Sonangol recently partnered with Esso to study the possibility of exploring for oil in the basin of River Kwanza, where studies had shown the existence of about 6mn barrels of oil. Earlier in the year, Sonangol said it was considering exploration in the Cassanje and Okavango river basins. Prior to the Angolan civil war, which began in 1975, Angola pumped around 80,000 bpd from the Kwanza river basin, but the war ultimately forced a halt in production.