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Its offer included a pledge to invest $2.5mn per BP and the other IOCs “are companies that
year in social welfare initiatives, plus $2.5mn per are focused on another horizon – offshore, for
year in environmental projects, he said. offshore blocks,” he remarked.
Buila did not name all of the companies He also stated that ANPG had not been sur-
that participated in the licensing round. He prised to see that most of the bids coming from
did indicate that Sonangol had been among Angolan companies had been for non-operating
the 13 Angolan companies that had submitted stakes in the onshore blocks. “To be an operator,
bids. Additionally, he identified one of the three one must have the technical capacity to operate
foreign bidders as Canada’s MTI Energy. He in a certain concession,” he explained. “As we
noted that the firm had made offers for stakes know, we have Angolan companies that already
of 50-60% in and operatorship of eight sepa- operate [fields], as is the case [with] Somoil,
rate blocks – CON-5, CON-6, KON-5, KON-6, which is bidding as an operator. But the others
KON-8, KON-9, KON-18 and KON-20. MTI that bid are present in the oil market, but [only]
Energy has also offered to spend $2mn per year in the goods and services sector.”
on social projects and another $2mn on envi- The Angolan companies are expected to
ronmental projects, he added. team up with IOCs that have the financial and
He went on to say that ANPG had been technical capacity to lead the projects, he added.
satisfied with the response to the auctions, ANPG has repeatedly encouraged local
even though it had received no bids from large companies to participate in the onshore bidding
international oil companies (IOCs) such as BP round. Last year, the concessionaire said domes-
(UK), TotalEnergies (France) and Eni (Italy) tic firms that won the upcoming auctions would
that are already active in Angola. The licensing pay a petroleum income tax of 30% instead of
round was specifically designed to attract small the usual rate of 50%. It also stated that Luanda
and medium-sized companies, especially local would not obligate Angolan firms that submit-
operators, so the absence of the majors was not ted winning bids to pay signature bonuses or
unexpected, he noted. provide funding for social welfare initiatives. ™

Sonangol launches Lobito tender

as Cabinda plant comes into view

ANGOLA ANGOLAN national oil company (NOC)
Sonangol last week launched a tender for invest-
ment in the long-awaited Lobito oil refinery as a
top official said he expects another downstream
unit to be on stream in a year’s time.
On July 9, a ceremony was held in Lobito in
Benguela Province to launch the tender with
Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas
Diamantino Azevedo and Benguela Governor
Luís Nunes in attendance, as well as local and
international prospective investors.
The plan for the refinery envisions the con-
struction of a new oil-processing plant in sev-
eral stages. The proposed final stage would bring
the facility’s throughput capacity up to 200,000 The refinery will be built in the port of Lobito (Photo: WikiMedia)
barrels per day (bpd). Sonaref, the state oil firm’s
refining arm, has said it anticipates the Lobito make the project appealing to potential part-
plant being finished by 2025. ners, several studies have already been carried
A 1.5-square km site has been allocated just out by Sonangol, including economic feasibility,
north of Lobito. As previously conceived, the dredging of Lobito Bay and construction of a
refinery would be built in two phases – the first road suitable for heavy machinery.
comprising low-conversion units aimed at satis- The facility is also central to plans for a
fying local demand, and the second upgrading cross-border fuel pipeline between Angola
the plant’s complexity to produce higher-quality and Zambia. Plans for the Angola-Zambia Oil
fuels suitable for export. Pipeline (AZOP) have gone through numerous
The unit will form the core of a new indus- iterations, and it is now expected to cost around
trial hub that will facilitate the development of $5bn, roughly double the figure quoted around
a domestic petrochemicals sector. In order to a decade ago.

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