Oil production in Angola is expected to reach between 2.1 and 2.2 million barrels per day in 2016, ratings agency Moody’s said in a statement on the country’s sovereign risk rating issued Wednesday.

In the statement, Moody’s noted that production at deep water projects in the Lower Congo Basin should begin soon and mentioned plans by the Angolan government to auction ultra deep water blocks in the Kwanza and Namibe basins.
“The Kwanza Basin is similar to geological structure of the Campos and Santos basins, in Brazil,” Moody’s said.

In the statement the agency projected growth of 7.8 percent for Angola’s economy this year, noting that it may upgrade its rating of the country’s sovereign debt in the future.

The statement to investors comes less than two weeks after the agency revised the country’s credit rating upwards, to Ba2 from Ba3, and improved its outlook from stable to positive, pointing to an improvement in credit conditions in Angola.