Angola sees oil output rising to 2 mln bpd in 2014

LISBON Jan 12 (Reuters) - Angola expects to increase oil output to 2 million barrels per day (mbpd) in 2014 from an estimated 1.8 mbpd this year due to new fields coming on line, oil minister Jose Botelho de Vasconcelos was quoted as saying on Thursday.

"We project output of 1.8 mbpd for 2012. We believe we can reach that average... and we are working so we can reach, possibly in 2014, production of around 2 mbpd," state-owned daily newspaper Jornal de Angola cited De Vasconcelos as saying.

"Some fields will start activity this year and others are being prepared for 2013 and 2014, which will contribute to a rise of our output levels," he added.

Oil output in Angola, Africa's second-largest crude producer after Nigeria, came in below estimates in 2011 due to technical problems and field maintenance, but it is recovering as fields come back on line and new projects begin production.

Output fell to a four-year low of 1.4 mbpd in June, but recovered to 1.75 mbpd in November, boosted by the re-start of BP's Plutonio field after technical problems and by production from Total's new Pazflor field.

The lower-than-expected production led the government to cut its 2011 growth estimate to 3.4 percent from 7.6 percent, but it expects an output recovery to help the economy grow by 12.8 percent this year.

Oil output represents over 95 percent of Angola's export revenues and around 45 percent of the gross domestic product.

De Vasconcelos said the country plans to continue investing in oil exploration.

Last month, state-oil company Sonangol signed deals with seven oil majors to drill under the Kwanza Basin seabed through a salt layer, which mirrors similar geological conditions off Brazil where major volumes of high-quality light oil have been discovered in recent years.