"This area of local content is very weak in the country precisely because it was blocked by Sonangol. The biggest enemy of local content has been Sonangol during all these years," said the manager on the sidelines of the Luanda Oil&Gas and Renewable Energy conference, organized by Petroangola , which runs until Friday at the Talatona Convention Center (Luanda).
According to Lago de Carvalho, the contracts negotiated with international oil companies by the former Sonangol, which assumed the functions of concessionaire and operator, were "manipulated for the benefit of public companies, such as Sonangol or companies of people connected to power and that completely blocked the possibility for independent private individuals to carry out such activities".
The businessman admitted that the situation has not changed substantially, despite Sonangol having stopped intervening in the negotiation of contracts, with the concessionaire function currently being assumed by the National Agency of Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG), and that now it will be "much more difficult because the volume of activity has also dropped".
In his intervention on the first panel of the conference, the importance of local content and its incorporation into contracts was one of the highlighted themes, with Lago de Carvalho defending that underdeveloped countries must protect themselves and transfer much of their knowledge to them, while Heloísa Borges, director of oil and gas studies at the Energy Research Company (EPE), from Brazil, discussed her country's experience in this field.
Last year, the Government approved a new Legal Regime for the Local Content of the Oil Sector to promote the diversification of the economy, the participation of national business in the oil sector, the increase in domestic production and the reduction of imports, as well as fostering creation of employment and training of the Angolan workforce affects the oil industry.
Last week, the National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANPG) published the list of services and goods provided to oil companies that oil block operators must contract exclusively or give preference to Angolan and Angolan-owned companies.
The measure aims to ensure the creation of an industry to support oil operations based in Angola and made up of local companies, as currently 95 percent of the goods and services consumed in oil installations are provided by foreign multinationals.
Sonangol has been the biggest obstacle to incorporating local content in the oil sector, says former executive
The businessman and former Sonangol executive Arnaldo Lago de Carvalho said this Wednesday that the state oil company has been the biggest obstacle to the incorporation of local content, such as goods and services provided by Angolan companies, in the oil sector.
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