Opec may cut deeper as Angola slumps

Once Africa’s biggest crude producer, country sees declines at underinvested offshore fields

While plunging output in Venezuela captures the oil world’s attention, problems are quietly festering in another Opec nation.

Angola, once Africa’s biggest crude producer, is suffering sharp declines at under-invested offshore fields, with output dropping almost three times as much as the nation pledged in an accord with fellow Opec members. With the losses set to accelerate — a shipping programme seen by Bloomberg News shows crude exports will fall in June to the lowest since at least 2008 — the group risks tightening supply too much.

“Angola has a serious problem, with its decline rates becoming increasingly visible,” said Richard Mallinson, an analyst at consultants Energy Aspects Ltd in London.

The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies have succeeded in wiping out an oil glut through production cuts launched in early 2017, boosting prices to a three-year high above $75 (Dh275) a barrel. Their efforts have been aided by accidental losses in member nation Venezuela, which is cutting six times the amount it promised as a spiralling economic crisis batters its oil industry.

The risk Opec faces now is tightening world markets too sharply, and sending prices to levels that either crimp oil demand or provoke a new tide of rival supply from the US. As Angola’s creeping decline adds to the ongoing slump in Venezuela, that danger only grows.