Sonangol Group
| Type | Parastatal |
|---|---|
| Industry | Petroleum Conglomerate |
| Founded | 1976 |
| Headquarters | 22x20px Luanda |
| Key people | Manuel Vicente, President of the Administration Council |
| Website | http://www.sonangol.co.ao/ |
Sonangol (in Portuguese:Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola) is a parastatal (a partially state-owned corporation or government agency, cf. national oil company) that oversees petroleum and natural gas production in Angola. Sonangol actually had become a fundraising machine of government. The group has many subsidiaries. The subsidiaries generally have Sonangol as a primary client, along with other corporate, commercial and individual clients. Angola is estimated to have over 5 billion barrels of offshore and coastal petroleum reserves, and new discoveries are outpacing consumption by a 5 to 1 ratio.
History
On the eve of Portuguese Angola's independence from Portugal following the election of a modern democratic government in Portugal in 1976, the company ANGOL (ANGOL Sociedade de Lubrificantes e Combustivels sarl, founded in 1953 as a subsidiary of Portuguese company SACOR) was nationalized and split in two, forming Sonangol U.E.E. and Direcção Nacional de Petróleos. Directive 52/76 instituted Sonangol as a state-owned company with a mandate to manage the country's substantial petroleum and natural gas. Using the extant remains of Texaco, Total, Shell and Mobil's oil works, Sonangol obtained the assistance of Algerian Sonatrach and of Italian Eni.
Organization
Today (as of 2006), Sonangol has over 30 subsidiaries and maintains overseas facilities in the following cities:
As the company grew it had a need to obtain services, such as telecommunications services, retail network support, trucking, shipping, data management, scientific, engineering, seismic, and others. The company created subsidiaries to meet these needs. Sonangol and its many subsidiaries have continued to expand into other lines of business. Among the more important subsidiaries are Sonair, MSTelcom and two banks, Banco Africano de Investimentos and Banco do Comércio e Indústria.
Sonangol is an important sponsor of the arts, sports and humanities in Angola and in Africa. On December 12, Reuters reported that Sonangol won the rights to develop the Iraq's Najmah oilfield in a bid held that day. The company's plateau production target for the field in the volatile province of Nineveh is 110,000 barrels per day (bpd), and the remuneration fee is $6 per barrel. Sonangol had proposed a per-barrel fee of $8.50, but then accepted the Oil Ministry's lower amount.
Subsidiaries
- Banco Africano de Investimentos (BAI) full service bank
- Bank of Commerce and Industry (BCI) recently privatized
- ESSA (Angola) Training
- Kwanda Logistical Support logistical support, Kwanda field
- MSTelcom telecommunications
- Sodimo real estate management
- SonAir oil and gas industry air transport service
- Sonangol P&P Oil exploration
- Sonagas Natural Gas Exploration
- Sonadiets corporate infrastructure
- Sonamer oil recovery; deep drilling
- Sonamet petroleum platform manufacturing; metal structure fabrication
- Sonangol Distribuidora downstream petroleum products including gasoline/petrol
- Sonangol Shipping maritime crude oil transport
- Sonangol USA, located in Houston, Texas
- Sonaship maritime petroleum product transport
- Sonasurf offshore oil work logistics
- Sonatide offshore oil work logistics
- Sonawest seismic data service
- Sonils Logistical Support logistical support http://www.sonils.co.ao/
- Sonangol Starfish Brasil P&P Oil exploration
Technologies
Sonangol USA, Sonangol London, and Sonangol Asia are the main trading and operations offices for the crude and product cargoes sold on behalf of Sonangol E.P. Each of these offices use a global trading system named SGTS (Sonangol Global Trading System). This system was created for Sonangol by a Houston, USA based software firm named Pineywoods Tech. This system has been in use since 2006. Sonangol Starfish which is located in Brasil, Rio de Janeiro since 22 of March 2010
External links
