Angolan oil tycoon Joaquim David eyes 50,000bpd for Etu Energias
Etu Energias, an Angolan oil exploration and production company, plans to boost its oil production to 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) by 2025, its CEO has revealed.
Etu Energias, formerly known as Somoil, was founded and is controlled by Angolan multimillionaire oil tycoon Joaquim David.
“Our goal is to be an exceptional operator in deep waters,” Edson dos Santos, CEO of Etu Energias, recently revealed in an interview with Bloomberg, explaining that the company’s phased growth strategy is based on the use of new drilling technologies following the acquisition of several oil blocks from the Portuguese Galp and the French TotalEnergies.
Etu Energias is Angola’s largest private oil company. Its ambitious production target follows Etu Energias’ acquisition of non-operated interests in Angola’s offshore Block 14 from oil and gas supermajor TotalEnergies in 2022, as well as multinational energy corporation Galp’s entire Angolan upstream portfolio in February.
Santos said the development of the company’s upstream portfolio aligns with its growth plan and the ultimate goal of going public.
The expansion of the company’s upstream portfolio is expected to boost oil output from 20,000 bpd to 50,000 bpd by 2025 and 100,000 bpd by 2030, according to dos Santos.
According to dos Santos, Etu Energias is negotiating with European and African banks to arrange financing for additional acquisitions.
Edson dos Santos indicated that by increasing current capacity and adding new assets, production may reach 100,000 barrels per day by 2030, up from 20,000 today, while admitting that “the company believes it still has a long way to go to reach its goals.”
The CEO of Etu Energias’ words coincide with the Angolan oil sector contracting by five percent due to a decline in production and the shutdown for the repair of the Dalia oil field in Block 17, Angola’s largest.
David, 71, is a co-founder and leading shareholder of Etu Energias.
The company produces close to 20,000 barrels of oil per day. It is the operator of two blocks in the Lower Congo Basin — Offshore Block 2/05 (under a production-sharing agreement) and onshore blocks FS and FST (under a concession contract).
Etu Energias also has a small presence in petroleum distribution in Angola. David started working as an oil engineer with Petrangol and Texaco in the late 1970s. He was named a divisional chief of Sonangol, Angola’s state-owned oil company in 1982.
In 1989, he was promoted to director general of Sonangol, a position he held until 1998.
He founded Somoil S.A. in 2000.