The Director of Total E&P Angola, Jean-Michel Lavergne, warned that if oil exploration costs in Angola did not come down significantly, the country runs the risk of no longer having an oil industry, according to financial news agency Bloomberg.

“If there is not a significant reduction in costs, everything will stop,” Lavergne told Bloomberg adding that if conditions do not improve, the Angolan oil industry “will disappear,” assuming that the price per barrel of oil remains at US$60.

The issue involves several measures that the Angolan government has put in place in recent years, which made production costs increase by US$500 million a year, Lavergne said during a business forum in Luanda, where he announced a meeting had been requested with the government to address these concerns caused by the cost of regulation.

The new rules on emissions, combined with low prices, means that some companies are thinking about leaving the country, which is the latest member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said the director of the United States – Angola Chamber of Commerce, Pedro Godinho.

“Brent” oil, the benchmark for for Angola, ended last week down 1.45 percent to US$48.18 and “West Texas Intermediate,” traded in New York, was down 1.79 percent at US$ 45.10. (macauhub/AO)