Calgary-based oil and gas firm Reconnaissance Energy Africa Ltd. (ReconAfrica) has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Angola’s National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG) to initiate a joint hydrocarbon exploration project in southeastern Angola. The agreement signifies a strategic extension of ReconAfrica’s ongoing operations in Namibia, focusing on the transboundary Etosha-Okavango Basin.
In an official statement released on 17 April 2025, ReconAfrica confirmed that the MoU grants the company an early-stage entry into Angola’s onshore exploration market, with what it describes as “low-cost, minimal work commitments.” The initiative will centre on extensive geological and geochemical studies over a 24-month period. This includes a regional oil and gas seep investigation, a 2D seismic survey, and sampling efforts designed to confirm the hydrocarbon potential in the area.
The exploration licence area, which spans 5.2 million acres in Angola, will complement the 6.3 million acres already under ReconAfrica’s control in Namibia. Together, these assets form part of the Damara Fold Belt and Rift Basin, a highly prospective geological formation believed to extend across the Angola-Namibia border. The Fold Belt is known for its structural similarities to globally significant petroleum provinces, making it a focal point of current upstream interest in Southern Africa.
Brian Reinsborough, President and CEO of ReconAfrica, underscored the technical rationale behind the Angola expansion, noting: “The encouraging technical results from our recent Naingopo exploration well on PEL 73 onshore Namibia have strengthened our belief in the significant hydrocarbon potential of the Damara Fold Belt play. Our regional geological models indicate that the promising Fold Belt play, known for hosting some of the world’s largest fields and covering extensive areas, likely extends into Angola.”
According to the MoU, ReconAfrica holds an 80% working interest with exclusive rights throughout the 24-month term. Angola’s state-owned energy company, Sonangol, holds the remaining 20% stake in the exploratory effort. While this is a non-binding agreement at this stage, it marks a pivotal step toward future licensing negotiations and field operations within Angola’s nascent onshore energy sector.
The announcement also coincides with ReconAfrica’s preparations to drill its largest prospect to date, Prospect I, located onshore Namibia just 47 kilometres from the Angolan concession area. Based on an independent resource assessment conducted by Netherland, Sewell & Associates Inc., Prospect I is estimated to contain 365 million barrels of unrisked and 32 million barrels of risked prospective light to medium oil, or 1.9 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of unrisked and 140 billion cubic feet (bcf) of risked prospective natural gas.
The alignment of these exploratory ventures across national boundaries reinforces the geological coherence of the Damara Fold Belt and underscores the emerging regional significance of the Etosha-Okavango Basin. Should exploratory results prove successful, the area may represent one of the most significant new hydrocarbon plays in sub-Saharan Africa
