Page 5 - AfrOil Week 44

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil

To this end, Presidential Decree 271/20 provides Duties: the agency and the ministry
for the government to continue the practice of Presidential Decree 271/20 also differs from the
maintaining a register of Angolan companies previous legal regime in that it defines the role
that are ready and able to work with IOCs. that ANPG, which did not exist until 2019, will
It also preserves the three-tier framework play in local content-related matters.
classifying contract awards as either Exclusive, More specifically, it calls for upstream opera-
Preferred or Competitive – that is, reserved tors and other entities to draw up plans for max-
exclusively for Angolan contractors, weighted imising the use of local content and to submit
in favour of Angolan contractors or open to all those plans to the agency at least once a year.
competitors. (Upstream operators must do so on a quarterly
basis, PLMJ noted.) Additionally, they must sub-
Differences: defining the players mit two sets of quarterly reports describing their
Despite these points of continuity, the decree plans for awarding contracts. One set will be due
differs in some key respects from the previous 30 days before the start of the next quarter and
legal regime. will include forecasts of the contracts anticipated
For one thing, it covers all local providers of to start in that quarter, and one set will review
goods and/or services to the oil and gas sector as the contracts entered into during the immedi- “
a whole, rather than restricting its focus to local ately preceding quarter. Angola’s new
companies that provide goods and/or services The decree also provides for the parties
to entities engaged in upstream exploration and in question to draw up and submit human local content
production operations. These entities include resources plans once a year. (They must also
the national oil company (NOC) Sonangol and review those plans on a yearly basis.) However, regime puts
Sonangol’s associates, as well as holders of ser- as VdA noted, they will not be working with forward a more
vice contracts that carry risk, according to PLMJ, ANPG on this front; instead, they must answer
a Portuguese law firm with extensive contacts to the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Petroleum specific (and
and experience in Angola. and Gas (known locally as MIREMPET). This
For another, it puts forward a more specific requirement is designed to maximise opportuni- restrictive)
(and restrictive) definition of a local company. ties for Angolan workers, and it covers upstream
This definition is important, as it determines and other operators’ rights and obligations with definition of a
which entities are permitted to bid for con- respect to integrating and promoting Angolan local company
tracts classified as Exclusive and which entities employees (and phasing out expatriates) within
are entitled to preferences when bidding for the oil and gas sector, the law firm said.
Preferred contracts. (Such preferences include The ministry will also have the authority to
retaining an edge over foreign companies, even approve ANPG’s determinations on which types
when they submit offers up to 10% higher, of contracts for goods and/or services fall into
according to an analysis published on Lexol- the Exclusive and Preferred categories, VdA
ogy.com by the Portuguese law firm Vieira de said.
Almeida, or VdA.) As of press time, no word was available on
Previously, Angola’s government had defined upstream operators’ reactions to Presidential
local companies as enterprises that were at least Decree 271/20. Africa Intelligence speculated,
majority-owned by Angolan citizens or Ango- though, that some of the IOCs involved in
lan entities. Under Presidential Decree 271/20, Angola might bristle under the new legal regime,
though, the only companies that fall into the which defines Angolan companies (SCAs) more
category of Angolan Commercial Companies narrowly and restricts the bidding opportunities
(known as SCAs, after their Portuguese acro- available to entities owned by both Angolan and
nym) are those wholly owned by Angolan cit- foreign investors (SCDAs). Even so, it is not
izens or Angolan enterprises. immediately apparent how the changes might
By contrast, PLMJ noted in an article pub- affect any individual projects or companies. ™
lished by Lexology.com, companies that are
majority-owned by Angolan citizens or Ango-
lan enterprises are now designated as Commer-
cial Companies under Angolan Law (known
as SCDAs). Joint ventures are also defined as
SCDAs, regardless of whether Angolan investors
hold a majority of equity, the article said.
Both SCAs and SCDAs must register with
and secure certification from the government –
specifically, from the National Agency of Petro-
leum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), which acts as
concessionaire – before bidding for contracts
with upstream operators. Likewise, all upstream
operators and other entities awarding contracts
must meet ANPG’s requirements for registra-
tion and certification. In turn, the concession-
aire will determine which types of contracts fall
into the Exclusive, Preferred and Competitive
categories. The new rules aim to help Angolan companies (Photo: AOP)

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