Sebastião Gaspar Martins, who was speaking at a press conference to present the 2024 results, said that Sonangol is preparing "in terms of internal issues to carry out this process", but stressed that there are still exogenous issues to be resolved, before the operation that aims to disperse up to 30 percent of the share capital on the stock exchange.
"Sonangol has already been carrying out some actions, which in a way place it on the stock exchange", highlighted the head of the oil company, referring to the issuance of bonds, which required the company to comply with several requirements specific to a stock exchange dispersion.
According to Sebastião Martins, the issue of fuel subsidies still continues to "weigh on the Sonangol privatization process".
"On the other hand, the company really belongs to the State and what needs to be done will depend on the decision that the State makes, supported by recommendations that we will take, as a result of the work that we are carrying out", he added.
The president of Sonangol highlighted that a consultant, Rothschild, has already shown the 'road map' of what needs to be done for the company to enter the stock market, and at this moment internal steps are underway to begin clarifying the process.
In turn, the Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, pointed out the excess of workers as one of the problems to be resolved in order to advance privatization.
"I spoke about the more than 2000 workers that Sonangol has in surplus. This is one of the endogenous aspects that Sonangol must resolve as part of its restructuring and preparation for its listing on the stock exchange: excess staff, the issue of some assets and liabilities that do not serve the company, the issue of Sonangol producing more oil (...) is very worrying," said the minister.
Diamantino Azevedo stressed that the dismissal would have social implications, with the solution being "to retrain these people, give them more training so that they can be used in other areas outside the ones they are trained in".
"I will demand more from Sonangol so that it actually puts these people to work, because it is not right (that there are) people earning salaries without working", he said.
The process of privatizing Sonangol, within the scope of the executive's Privatization Program (Propriv), has been dragging on for some years, without a date being defined.
