You Should Know This: Greater cooperation between Sonangol and Italy’s ENI aimed in Angola

Angola plans to boost cooperation between state oil company Sonangol and Italian group ENI with a view to building a refinery and to focus on international expansion, the Angolan President said in Luanda Monday.

At the end of a private meeting with Italy’s prime Minister Matteo Renzi on a 24-hour visit to Angola, President José Eduardo dos Santos said that cooperation should expand to infrastructure that bolsters development of the oil sector, such as rig construction, naval repairs and engineering services, amongst others.

“We produce oil, we also want to produce gas and extend hat cooperation beyond Angola,” said the President adding that it was in the interests of the Angolan state for ENI to take on a bigger role in building the new refinery.

“We are a country that imports almost everything and, as we want to start replacing imports with national products, that aim provides opportunities for Italian businesspeople that want to invest in Angola,” said dos Santos.

The Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, noted Italy’s willingness to work with the Angolan state in the energy sector, involving oil companies ENI and Sonangol.

Renzi also said that this year Italy’s deputy Economic Development Minister Carlo Callenda would visit Angola in the company of Italian businesspeople to analyse opportunities to boost cooperation in a number of sectors.

Renzi’s visit to Angola comes 40 years after political and diplomatic relations were established between the two countries and is focused on business affairs. The Prime Minister travelled to Luanda with a delegation of 25 businesspeople. (mchb/AO)