A senior US official told Bloomberg that the United States supports Angola’s efforts to diversify its resources from being an oil-dependent economy to a processor of vital minerals and an exporter of clean energy.
“Angola and the United States agree on all key points related to energy access, energy security, decarbonization, and critical minerals,” Jeffrey Pyatt, US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources, said in an online press conference on Tuesday.
The southern African country, one of the continent’s largest crude oil producers, has become the focus of the United States in its campaign to secure vital minerals such as copper, while competing with China.
The US Export-Import Bank has allocated billions of dollars to clean energy projects to boost capacity in the country, which plans to sell surplus electricity throughout the region.
Last week, Bayat visited the capital, Luanda, and met with the country’s oil and energy ministers.
The US official said that building the necessary transportation and network infrastructure for Angola will make it “a greater exporter of energy to the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.”
The US Export-Import Bank provided a $900 million loan for solar energy projects in Angola built by the American developer Sun Africa, “which is committed to using non-Chinese components,” according to Bayat.
The bank’s board of directors referred to Congress a $1.6 billion project with the same developer, to build small grids and clean water projects across the country.
The US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources said that Angola is also interested in developing infrastructure for processing vital minerals, adding that the US-backed Minerals Security Partnership Forum brings together producers and customers to find potential financing opportunities from the United States, the European Union and others to realize such projects.
