Sonangol Group
Encyclopedia
Group Sonangol is a parastatal that oversees petroleum and natural gas
production in Angola
. Sonangol actually had become a fundraising machine of government. The group consists of Sonangol EP (Portuguese: Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola, E.P.) and its many subsidiaries. The subsidiaries generally have Sonangol EP as a primary client, along with other corporate, commercial and individual clients. Angola is estimated to have over 5 Goilbbl of offshore and coastal petroleum reserves, and new discoveries are outpacing consumption by a 5 to 1 ratio.
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 Algeria
n Sonatrach
and of Italian Eni
.
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 110000 oilbbl/d (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.
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
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
production in Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
. Sonangol actually had become a fundraising machine of government. The group consists of Sonangol EP (Portuguese: Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola, E.P.) and its many subsidiaries. The subsidiaries generally have Sonangol EP as a primary client, along with other corporate, commercial and individual clients. Angola is estimated to have over 5 Goilbbl 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 PortugalPortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
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
Texaco
Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....
, Total
Total S.A.
Total S.A. is a French multinational oil company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world.Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and production to power generation, transportation, refining, petroleum product marketing, and...
, Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
and Mobil
Mobil
Mobil, previously known as the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, was a major American oil company which merged with Exxon in 1999 to form ExxonMobil. Today Mobil continues as a major brand name within the combined company, as well as still being a gas station sometimes paired with their own store or On...
's oil works, Sonangol obtained the assistance of Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
n Sonatrach
Sonatrach
Sonatrach is an Algerian government-owned company formed to exploit the hydrocarbon resources of the country. Its diversified activities cover all aspects of production: exploration, extraction, transport, and refining...
and of Italian Eni
Eni
Eni S.p.A. is an Italian multinational oil and gas company, present in 70 countries, and currently Italy's largest industrial company with a market capitalization of 87.7 billion euros , as of July 24, 2008...
.
Organization
Today (as of 2006), Sonangol has over 30 subsidiaries and maintains overseas facilities in the following cities:- Brazzaville, CongoBrazzaville-Transport:The city is home to Maya-Maya Airport and a railway station on the Congo-Ocean Railway. It is also an important river port, with ferries sailing to Kinshasa and to Bangui via Impfondo...
- Hong Kong, China
- Houston, USAHouston, TexasHouston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
- Sonangol USA Co. (SonUSA) has its head office in the Energy Corridor area in Houston.
- LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, UK- Sonangol Limited has its head office in the Merevale House in KensingtonKensingtonKensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
, RBKCRoyal Borough of Kensington and ChelseaThe Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is a central London borough of Royal borough status. After the City of Westminster, it is the wealthiest borough in England....
, London.
- Sonangol Limited has its head office in the Merevale House in Kensington
- SingaporeSingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
.
As the company grew it had a need to obtain services, such as telecommunications services, retail network support, trucking
Truck driver
A truck driver , is a person who earns a living as the driver of a truck, usually a semi truck, box truck, or dump truck.Truck drivers provide an essential service to...
, shipping
Shipping
Shipping has multiple meanings. It can be a physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo, by land, air, and sea. It also can describe the movement of objects by ship.Land or "ground" shipping can be by train or by truck...
, data management
Data management
Data management comprises all the disciplines related to managing data as a valuable resource.- Overview :The official definition provided by DAMA International, the professional organization for those in the data management profession, is: "Data Resource Management is the development and execution...
, scientific, engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, 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
Sonair
SonAir Airline Services, S.A. , known as SonAir, is a subsidiary of Sonangol Group, the National Petroleum Company of Angola....
, MSTelcom
MSTelcom
MSTelcom is a subsidiary of Sonangol Group, the state petroleum company of Angola. MSTelcom provides a range of telecommunications services for the oil industry as well as for residential and corporate clients. Its name comes from "Mercury Telecommunication Services SARL"...
and two banks, Banco Africano de Investimentos
Banco Africano de Investimentos
Banco Africano de Investimentos, part of the Sonangol Group, is a full service bank operating in Angola. The bank operates a nationwide network of branches, including 16 branches in Luanda and 1 in South Africa....
and Banco do Comércio e Indústria
Banco do Comércio e Indústria
Banco de Comércio e Indústria is a bank in Angola which was recently privatised. It is a subsidiary of Sonangol, the national petroleum company....
.
Sonangol is an important sponsor of the arts, sports and humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
in Angola and in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. 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 110000 oilbbl/d (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 (BAIBanco Africano de InvestimentosBanco Africano de Investimentos, part of the Sonangol Group, is a full service bank operating in Angola. The bank operates a nationwide network of branches, including 16 branches in Luanda and 1 in South Africa....
) full service bank - Bank of Commerce and Industry (BCIBanco do Comércio e IndústriaBanco de Comércio e Indústria is a bank in Angola which was recently privatised. It is a subsidiary of Sonangol, the national petroleum company....
) recently privatized - ESSA (Angola) Training
- KwandaKwanda IslandKwanda Island is an island located near Soyo, Angola at the mouth of the Congo River.The island's main purpose is to support oil and gas projects for the country of Angola. Several LNG projects have begun on the island....
Logistical Support logistical support, Kwanda field - MSTelcomMSTelcomMSTelcom is a subsidiary of Sonangol Group, the state petroleum company of Angola. MSTelcom provides a range of telecommunications services for the oil industry as well as for residential and corporate clients. Its name comes from "Mercury Telecommunication Services SARL"...
telecommunications - Sodimo real estateReal estateIn general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
management - SonAirSonairSonAir Airline Services, S.A. , known as SonAir, is a subsidiary of Sonangol Group, the National Petroleum Company of Angola....
oil and gas industry air transport service - Sonangol P&P Oil exploration
- Sonagas Natural Gas Exploration
- Sonadiets corporate infrastructure
- Sonamer oil recovery; deep drillingOil wellAn oil well is a general term for any boring through the earth's surface that is designed to find and acquire petroleum oil hydrocarbons. Usually some natural gas is produced along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce mainly or only gas may be termed a gas well.-History:The earliest...
- Sonamet petroleum platformDrilling rigA drilling rig is a machine which creates holes or shafts in the ground. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to drill water wells, oil wells, or natural gas extraction wells, or they can be small enough to be moved manually by one person...
manufacturing; metal structure fabrication - Sonangol Distribuidora downstream petroleum products including gasoline/petrolGasolineGasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
- Sonangol Shipping maritime crude oil transportOil tankerAn oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a merchant ship designed for the bulk transport of oil. There are two basic types of oil tankers: the crude tanker and the product tanker. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to refineries...
- Sonangol USA, located in Houston, TexasHouston, TexasHouston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
- Sonaship maritime petroleum product transportOil tankerAn oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a merchant ship designed for the bulk transport of oil. There are two basic types of oil tankers: the crude tanker and the product tanker. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crude oil from its point of extraction to refineries...
- 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, USAHouston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
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