Book excerpt: “Angola has been working hard to improve competitiveness and generate new opportunities to foster not only the traditional oil and gas activity but also the energy sector as a whole.” Matteo Bacchini, Managing Director, Eni Angola The Energy Year Angola 2021 highlights Angola’s ambitious goals to intensify exploration activities, transform the public role in the hydrocarbons industry and advance the development of natural gas and LNG – altogether cementing the country’s position as a key energy hub in southwestern Africa. “The government has done a wonderful job in updating the laws, introducing reforms and trying to adjust the industry and the mature basins’ potential to the current market conditions.” Edson Rodrigues Dos Santos, CEO, Somoil The Energy Year Angola 2021 portrays a detailed picture of Angola’s energy scene under President Lourenço’s renewed administration, focusing on the varied efforts the country is undertaking to enhance its oil and gas production, upgrade its refining capacity and push for an energy transition. This edition’s Year Focus chapter, A Renewed Era of Licensing, includes a map detailing the blocks and seismic data in the ANPG’s 2021-2025 bidding strategy – an approach that aims to expand geological information on Angola’s oil and gas potential and attract a new generation of explorers to yield new discoveries. Produced in partnership with the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas, ANPG and Sonangol, this seventh edition of The Energy Year’s Angola series provides insight to potential investors on the government’s efforts to push the energy industry forward, providing a clear picture of Angola’s opportunities at a time when gas is the new oil and the country is driven by its pursuit of the energy transition.