Angola aims to redistribute its oil wealth

Big international energy companies are being forced to loosen their grip on one of the world’s most important oil provinces as Angola relaunches bidding for several of its most promising potential oil fields.

Senior officials of Sonangol, the African country’s state oil company, this week travelled to London to drum up interest for exploration in areas that until recently were key assets in the portfolios of companies such as Total of France, BP of the UK and ExxonMobil of the US.

..High oil prices and a lack of alternatives make Angola all the more attractive to companies and consuming countries – especially the US and China – seeking new reserves.

Mr Saturnino said: “The Chinese are fighting to have access to different sources of energy. All the major Chinese oil companies are competing in Angola.” He added that the Chinese brought other benefits, such as financial support, even though they might not have the technical expertise of the big international oil companies.

Companies from India, Thailand, South Korea, Brazil and a host of independ- ent and smaller players are also interested. Some will compete with the big com-panies, while others will bid for smaller fields that are of less interest to the larger players.

Financial Times