A series of measures introduced by Angola’s government in recent years has pushed production costs up as much as $500m annually and the country risks losing investment from foreign oil companies, Jean-Michel Lavergne, general manager for Total E&P Angola told reporters.

Oil companies want talks with the Angolan government to press home the threat posed by regulatory costs, Gulf News reported.

With crude oil prices below $60 a barrel, “if there is no significant reduction in costs, everything will stop,” the executive from the country’s biggest driller added. Angola’s oil industry “will disappear.”

Days before, in the 37º edition of “First Friday Club”, Lavergne said that they will “continue to dialogue with the Government to seek the balance between the gains in terms of better environmental progress, fiscal income and increased costs that could derail investment projects.”, Agência Angola Press reported.

Angola passed Nigeria in June to become the continent’s largest producer of oil, with 1.8m barrels a day to Nigeria’s 1.77m, according to International Energy Agency figures. For all of 2014, Angola’s average daily production was 1.66m barrels a day, compared to Nigeria’s 1.9m.

Strict new regulations on emissions and waste, coupled with low prices, mean some companies are considering pulling the plug on Angola, which became OPEC’s newest member in 2007, said Pedro Godinho, managing director of the US-Angola Chamber of Commerce.