JOHANNESBURG, March 20 (Reuters) – Angola expects oil output to average 1.84 million barrels per day (bpd) this year, up 10 percent from 1.67 million bpd in 2014, according a revised 2015 budget passed by parliament on Thursday, the state news agency said.
Angola’s parliament voted heavily in favour of passing a revised 5.4 trillion kwanza ($51 billion) 2015 budget, cutting spending by 1.8 trillion kwanza from its original plans due to a halving of oil prices since June last year.
The revised budget figures are based on an oil price of $40 per barrel rather than the $81 previously forecast and predicts a budget deficit of 7 percent of GDP.
Oil accounts for around half of Angola’s GDP, 80 percent of tax revenues and 90 percent of export earnings.
Angola’s state-oil company Sonangol lay out ambitious plans to increase oil production last month after what it called a “very difficult” 2014 as cost cuts soared, prices slumped and technical problems hit output.
The OPEC-member has missed its oil production target of 2 million bpd for several years due to project delays and disappointing levels of investment as oil majors scaled back exploration projects due to the global economic downturn.
Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Total, BP and China’s Sinopec are all major producers in Africa’s second largest oil exporter.