"The Government of João Lourenço is pursuing a remarkable program of reforms designed to allow Sonangol to represent local interests while working cooperatively with foreign investors", wrote the leader of this organization whose main motivation is to encourage foreign investment in the energy sector in Africa.
In a statement sent to Lusa, NJ Ayuk says that the first step in Sonangol's transformation was the change of mission, removing the regulatory aspect from the company, allowing it to concentrate on its main activity, oil exploration and production.
Then, in September 2021, the then Minister of Petroleum, Diamantino Azevedo, announced that Sonangol would go public, in a process that is ongoing, but still without a scheduled date for the dispersion of up to 30 percent of the capital.
In the text, NJ Ayuk points to going on the stock exchange for 2027, when the company meets the criteria defined earlier this year by the company's executive president, Sebastião Gaspar Martins.
"Since September, the Angolan government has clarified its intentions, saying that the takeover bid would only go ahead when Sonangol meets certain criteria", he writes, citing, among others, the increase in internal refining and oil storage capacity, the reduction of at least 20 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in exploration, production and refining operations, and the increase in the percentage of oil production in fields operated by Sonangol to 10 percent.
"Sebastião Martins said that Sonangol would have to meet all these goals, formulated to make the company stronger and more self-sustainable, before going ahead with the IPO, and said that even though there was no rigid deadline set by the Government, he expected that the company achieve targets by 2027," writes NJ Ayuk.
All these changes, he concludes, praising "João Lourenço's vision", are an example for other African oil companies and "serve to transform Sonangol from an instrument of the State into a business-style organization, focused on operational issues and not bothered by peripheral concerns ".
