Oil sales from Angola to European countries soared 665 per cent in the first nine months of this year compared to the same period in 2021, rising from US$884.9 million to US$6.7 billion.
The rapid growth reflects greater demand from European countries for alternatives to Russian oil, following sanctions against the war in Ukraine.
According to the newspaper Expansão, which based its calculations on the External Statistics of the National Bank of Angola (BNA), gross revenues from oil exports grew from US$20 billion between January and September of last year to $32 billion, with Angola taking advantage of the rise in crude oil barrel prices on international markets.
In the first nine months of this year alone, gross revenues from oil exports have already surpassed the US$27.8 billion recorded in 2021.
According to BNA, in the first three quarters of this year the average export price of a barrel of oil was always above US$100, while in the same period of 2021 it varied between US$61.7 and US$73.4.
In the first three months of this year, 302.4 million barrels were exported, 2.4 per cent more than the 295.3 million barrels sold abroad between January and September 2021.
China continues to be the main destination for Angolan oil, although the third quarter of this year saw a slowdown in sales to China, which has been buying cheap oil currently being sold by Russia.
China took 54.2 per cent of all oil exported by Angola between January and September, which contrasts with the 70 per cent verified in the first three quarters of 2021.
This loss of “share” of Angola’s biggest creditor – and whose debt is secured by oil – is due to the rise in Angolan exports as a whole, not least because in the first three quarters of 2021 Angola sold oil worth US$14.1 billion to China, while in the same period this year it sold US$17.4 billion, 23 per cent more.
Over a year, the ranking of the biggest customers of Angolan oil changed, with the direct entry of three European countries (France, Italy and Spain), surpassing Thailand, Singapore and Chile.
Sales to France soared 1,337 per cent, to Italy rose 259 per cent and Spain grew 803 per cent.
Also noteworthy was the 740 per cent rise in crude exported to the Netherlands, 728 per cent in sales to Portugal, and the first exports to Britain since 2017.
