Africa Oil & Gas: Sonangol reports US$68 Million in 2016 profits

Angola oil company Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola (Sonangol) posted a net profit of more than US$68 million in 2016, the chairwoman of the company, Isabel dos Santos, announced on Monday in Luanda.

Presenting the results for the previous year, dos Santos said net income and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of US$2.755 billion reversed the sharp downward trend of the previous two years.

Cited by Angolan news agency Angop, dos Santos stressed that the company kept oil production above 1.7 million barrels a day in 2016, “despite all the constraints associated with the drop in oil prices,” making Angola the biggest oil producer in Africa.

Dos Santos noted that the current Sonangol board, which was appointed in June 2016, took on that responsibility in the context of an economic crisis in the country and with the state company registering a 60% drop in revenues compared to 2013/2016, high debt and falling oil prices.

The chairwoman of the oil concessionaire in Angola said that it was possible to increase revenues and reduce expenses by introducing a number of programmes, such as Sonaplus and Sonalight.

Sonaplus involved increasing sales of bitumen, optimising Luanda Refinery products, reviewing lubricant prices and adopting revenue guarantee programmes at Clínica Girassol.

The Sonalight programme is focused on making savings of up to US$1.2 billion, and effective savings of US$320 million which have already been achieved in the second half of 2016. (source: Macauhub)