Afentra has been formally awarded the Risk Service Contract for onshore Block KON4 in Angola’s Kwanza Basin by Presidential Decree on 26 May 2026 — a landmark award that hands the UK-listed upstream company an operated position over one of Angola’s most historically significant but long-dormant onshore oil accumulations, anchored by the giant Quenguela Norte field estimated to hold over 200 million barrels of discovered oil in place.
Afentra has been awarded a 35 per cent operated interest in KON4 alongside its local Angolan partners: Grupo Simples Oil, which also holds 35 per cent; Sonangol E&P at 20 per cent; Brite’s Oil and Gas at 5 per cent; and Sodedurs at 5 per cent. The formal signing of the contract is expected at a later date. KON4 covers 1,387 square kilometres in a historically productive area of the onshore Kwanza Basin, where 11 oil and 2 gas fields have been discovered and over 90 million barrels of oil equivalent produced to date. The block sits in close proximity to the Luanda refinery and benefits from existing road infrastructure — an advantage that could allow early production to be piped directly to the refinery, compressing development timelines and reducing logistics costs.
The Quenguela Norte field at the heart of the block is the largest onshore discovery in the onshore Kwanza Basin. It achieved peak production of 12,000 barrels per day and recovered 46 million barrels before being shut-in and abandoned in 1999 — leaving more than 150 million barrels of discovered oil in place untapped by the technologies of that era. Afentra intends to pursue field reactivation using modern reservoir management techniques, reactivated wells, and redevelopment approaches that have advanced considerably since the field was last in production over two decades ago.
Beyond the Quenguela Norte redevelopment opportunity, KON4 also offers low-cost, near-field exploration potential across both Tertiary and Cretaceous age targets spanning post-salt and pre-salt petroleum systems. Together with Afentra’s existing non-operated interests in blocks KON15 and KON19, the KON4 award creates a complementary and diversified portfolio spanning multiple play types across the onshore Kwanza Basin. Initial technical and subsurface work has already commenced, with the contractor group progressing subsurface studies assessing the reactivation of Quenguela Norte wells alongside a review of all permitting and above-ground requirements. A workstream assessing the broader exploration potential of the block is also under way, integrating a recently completed high-resolution enhanced Full Tensor Gradiometry survey with existing 2D seismic data.
Afentra CEO Paul McDade described the formal award as a significant milestone, saying KON4 brings a compelling mix of near-term redevelopment potential anchored by the Quenguela Norte field and meaningful exploration upside, all supported by favourable fiscal terms and proximity to the Luanda refinery. He said the award reinforces the company’s commitment to building a material presence in what he described as an under-explored but highly prospective basin, and that Afentra looks forward to progressing the work programme with its partners and will provide further updates as technical evaluation advances.
Source: energy-pedia.com