* Project was due to start Q1, new date to be set in 6 weeks
* Angola to seek bids for 15 onshore oil exploration blocks
* Oil output up 4.5 pct in 2012, net profit drop notexplained
LUANDA, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Angola has delayed plans to beginexporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) because of technicalproblems at its $10 billion plant, a senior executive at stateoil firm Sonangol said on Monday.
Sonangol board member Baptista Sumbe told the company'sannual briefing a new start date for the project, called AngolaLNG, will be announced in six weeks once repairs have beencompleted.
Angola was initially expected to start exporting LNG in thefirst quarter of 2012, but the date was pushed back to the firstquarter of this year after several delays..
"To our regret, the project has been delayed. In October, wefaced another technical problem," Sumbe said.
"The repairs are being carried out now, and as soon as theyare done, within five to six weeks, we will be able to announcepublicly when the project can start," he added.
The 5.2 million tonnes-per-year project is led by Sonangol,which has a 22.8 percent stake and Chevron, which holds36.4 percent. Eni, Total and BP eachhold a stake of 13.6 percent.
Sonangol is the main player in the oil sector in Angola,Africa's second-largest oil producer after Nigeria. Besidesholding stakes in all of Angola's exploration blocks, it is alsothe national concessionaire in charge of awarding licences.
Board member Sebastiao Martins confirmed that the companyplans to hold a new bidding round for licenses to explore foroil in the pre-salt layer, this time for 15 onshore blocks inthe Kwanza and Basin.
Analysts and investors believe drilling thousands of metresthrough blocks known as pre-salt, could match huge discoveriesmade off the Brazilian coast in similar rock formations.
Sonangol expects to get the go-ahead from the government tolaunch the bidding process this year, Martins added.
Angola offered offshore exploration rights in the pre-saltlayer to seven oil majors including Total, BP and U.S. firmCobalt in 2011.
Chief Executive Francisco Lemos Jose Maria said Angola'scrude production rose 4.5 percent to 1.73 million barrels perday (mbpd) last year from 1.66 mbpd in 2011, a year marked bytechnical problems and maintenance at oil fields.
The CEO added that net profit in 2012 came in at $1.24billion, but did not explain a drop from the previous year, whenthe company reported net profit of $3.3 billion.
BP (BP.)
