Angola plans to create a National Petroleum Agency

The future National Petroleum Agency of Angola will allow state oil company Sonangol to concentrate on its main activity, which is to produce, process and market oil products, the Angolan Minister of Mineral Resources and Oil said last week.

According to a statement released by the state company, Minister Diamantino Azevedo announced that a working group would be set up soon to prepare the establishment of the National Petroleum Agency.

The minister was speaking at the presentation session of the new Board of Directors of Sonangol chaired by Carlos Saturnino, following the dismissal of the board led by businesswoman, and daughter of former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Isabel dos Santos. The session was attended by the Secretaries of State for Oil, Paulino Jerónimo, and for Geology and Mines, Jânio da Rosa Correia Victor.

Saturnino said he had been given “very precise” guidelines from the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, including the need to “rethink the oil and gas business in Angola, rethink the Sonangol Group and redesign the most important parts of the oil industry in Angola,”, focusing on its main activity.

Sonangol controls about 20 subsidiary companies, is the largest business group in Angola with close to 10,000 direct workers, and also has shareholdings in various companies and banks, including Banco Comercial Português (BCP) Group and Galp Energia, in Portugal. (source: macauhub)