Angola is drafting its first law to regulate biofuels, with the National Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG) positioning the nascent sector as a strategic link between the country’s petroleum industry and its agricultural base — a vision outlined at the inaugural Angola Extractive Investment Summit (AEIS) held this week in Luanda.
The summit, organised by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry for Gas, Petroleum and Mining of Angola (CCIGPMA) on the sidelines of the 2026 Luanda International Fair (FILDA), brought together regulators, operators and industry associations to debate the twin imperatives of maintaining oil output and managing an energy transition calibrated to Angola’s economic realities.
Vita Mateso, coordinator of the ANPG’s Energy Integration and Biofuels Unit, told participants that biofuels have been at the centre of intensive discussions between the regulator and sector operators, and that formal legislation is now being prepared to govern the industry.
Speaking on the panel entitled ‘Energy, Industrialisation and Energy Transition (Upstream, Midstream, Downstream)’, Mateso outlined how the ANPG views biofuels through the full value chain. “We look at biofuels by examining the entire biofuel value chain, starting with the production of raw materials, which necessarily involves agriculture. For us, this is an opportunity to bring the petroleum industry into agriculture,” he said.
Mateso highlighted the potential of a future biofuels industry to contribute to Angola’s economic diversification, with direct social benefits for local communities. He also underscored the environmental gains: “With biofuels, we have the opportunity to contribute to emissions reduction. By blending biofuel with fossil fuel, we can reduce emissions. And when we look at SAF — sustainable aviation fuel — we see the benefit of using that type of fuel.”
The ANPG official noted that, given shifting global attitudes toward hydrocarbons, the direction of investment flows has become “somewhat more equitable”, reflecting growing concerns around climate change. The agency has been signalling this orientation throughout the year, including the renewal in February of a memorandum with Chevron and the National Environmental Management Institute on low-carbon projects, and the launch in July of a public consultation on Angola’s Hydrocarbons Strategy for 2025–2050.
Despite the emphasis on transition, all panellists converged on the view that Angola must continue to develop its oil industry while pursuing a decarbonisation agenda that matches the concrete conditions of its economy.
“To reach the decarbonisation process, there is still a very long road ahead. We don’t even have a law on carbon projects yet,” said Rita de Cássia Rocha, president of Wayne Group, which operates in the import and distribution of petroleum derivatives, lubricants and spare parts.
Rocha acknowledged progress in renewable energy investment, pointing to solar power as a growing clean-energy source — citing, for example, the Biópio solar plant in Benguela province, which has an installed capacity of approximately 189 megawatts. Nevertheless, she was unequivocal that oil revenues remain essential to sustaining Angola’s public finances.
“We cannot stop using diesel in our generators and electricity generation. We have a very large dependence on the sector,” she said. “And to get there [decarbonisation], one of the steps is understanding that this transition will not be immediate — that in the world it is happening at a different pace. But Angola must follow its own rhythm.”
Beatriz Catomi, deputy director of Angola’s National Coordination Committee for the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), was equally direct on the country’s continued oil dependence. “We will keep producing oil,” she stated.
Catomi called for Angola to sharpen its mechanisms for reporting revenues from mineral and petroleum production, improving transparency and information disclosure. Angola formally joined the EITI platform in 2020, though it had participated in the initiative’s founding in 2002. “The availability of information is the primary indicator that measures the level and degree of transparency in an organisation. We have been engaging with academia, and academics complain that it is very difficult to access information from the extractive sector,” said Catomi, referring to the Oslo-headquartered institution.
Luís Lago de Carvalho, vice-president of the Association of Contracted Companies in Angola’s Petroleum Industry (AECIPA), highlighted the growth in qualified Angolan professionals within the oil sector and praised the Local Content framework for driving that progress. He nonetheless argued that a broader set of conditions is needed to allow Angolan companies to grow and become more competitive in the market.
Lago de Carvalho also pressed for fair access to foreign exchange for companies operating in the petroleum market. “We are the ones generating foreign currency for the country, and then we have no access to foreign currency,” he said. “The issue is not that we want advantages. We want equity.”
The Angola Extractive Investment Summit joins a series of initiatives throughout 2026 that have sought to balance the discourse on energy transition with a defence of the petroleum industry’s continuity — the sector remains the dominant pillar of Angola’s state revenues — at a moment when the country is also finalising a Hydrocarbons Strategy with a horizon extending to 2050.
The event, organised by CCIGPMA within the framework of FILDA 2026, reflected the broader tension Angola faces as an oil-dependent economy navigating international pressure to decarbonise while relying on hydrocarbon receipts to fund public expenditure and development priorities.
The proposed biofuels law, once enacted, would represent the first dedicated regulatory framework for the sector in Angola, creating the legal foundation for investment across the production chain — from agricultural feedstocks through to processing and blending with conventional fuels.
For the ANPG, the legislation is part of a wider effort to align Angola’s energy policy with global decarbonisation trends without sacrificing the oil revenues that continue to underpin the national budget, a balancing act that dominated debate at this week’s inaugural summit.
Source: Mercado
