For a country that pumps around 1.7 million barrels of oil a day and is twice the size of Texas or 5 times the size of Britain you would expect that finding petrol would not be a problem. Sadly you would be wrong as the country only has 534 petrol stations. So when traveling out of town always make sure you fill up when you can. Source – O Pais.
A CSIS Report by Alex Vines and Markus Weimer, July 2011
This is a Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) report
By Shrikesh Laxmidas
LISBON Nov 8 (Reuters) – The ruling MPLA’s December Central Committee meeting will be closely watched after media reports suggested long-serving President Jose Eduardo dos Santos had chosen a successor and may step down before or one year after a 2012 general election.
The weekly Novo Jornal said in September dos Santos had selected Manuel Vicente, head of state oil company Sonangol, as his successor, but a party spokesman said no decisions had been taken and the party would appoint its candidate in December.
Meanwhile, several anti-government protests organised this year show Angolan youths are ready to air their grievances about human rights, social conditions and high unemployment but also that the authorities are willing to respond with force.
On the economic front, technical problems in oil production have led the government to slash its growth forecast for this year, highlighting the need to diversify the economy. More…….
By Andrew Nolan
Saturday July 30 2011
If your boss told you tomorrow that you had been relocated to the most expensive city in the world where would you think of? Tokyo? In 2009 you would have been right. Moscow? You would have to go back to 2008. London or New York? Wrong again. The destination on your plane ticket would be Luanda.
It’s official: the Angolan city has the 2011 top spot according to Mercer, a US financial consultancy company which compiles an annual report comparing prices in the world’s capitals.
Few places in the world measure up to the recent oil exploration significance of Angola, according to oil experts. This country is the second biggest oil producer in Africa after Nigeria. What is it about Angola’s geology that favors so much oil production and what is the long term future of the oil industry here? The Angola Field Group invites you to a presentation: Everyman’s Guide to Angola’s Petroleum Geology and Oil Industry at the Viking Club, Thursday May 05, at 8:00 PM with Geologist Tako Koning who will explain in layperson’s terms the subsurface geology that has led to the success of the country’s oil industry and what it means for the future. Tako, a Holland-born and Canada-raised geologist has 40 years experience in the oil industry, including 15 years in Angola. He worked with Texaco for 30 years in Canada, Indonesia, Nigeria and Angola; he retired in 2002 and continues to work in Angola as an oil consultant. More info on the Angola Field Group page.
The New York Times published this bizarre correction at the end of this article
Correction: February 6, 2011
An article on Jan. 16 about drilling for oil off the coast of Angola erroneously reported a story about cows falling from planes, as an example of risks in any engineering endeavor.No cows, smuggled or otherwise, ever fell from a plane into a Japanese fishing rig. The story is an urban legend, and versions of it have been reported in Scotland, Germany, Russia and other locations.
LUANDA, April 1 (Reuters) – Tension between the ruling MPLA party and the main opposition UNITA party and questions over policy-making are worrying investors in the major African oil-producing nation of Angola.
The MPLA, which emerged victorious from a 27-year civil war against UNITA in 2002, has been accused of corruption and of not doing enough to tackle widespread poverty.
Other concerns include uncertainty about a successor to President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and heavy dependence on oil revenue, although the spike in crude prices to above $100 a barrel is likely to alleviate government funding pressure. More…….
THE Angolan government this week said it sees Luanda, the capital, as a “new Dubai” and there certainly are similarities with the emirate. Luanda has access to vast oil wealth. If only they could get visas, tourists would love the beaches and game parks. Flight routes have been improving following the opening of a modern airport; planes arrive non-stop from Europe and America, mostly carrying oil engineers. Ryanair, the low-cost carrier, has looked into the route from London. More……
Feb 1, 2011 11:23am GMT |
LUANDA Feb 1 (Reuters) – Tension between the ruling MPLA party and the main opposition UNITA party and questions over policy-making are worrying investors in the major African oil-producing nation of Angola.
The MPLA, which emerged victorious from a 27-year civil war against UNITA in 2002, has been accused of corruption and of not doing enough to tackle widespread poverty.
Other concerns include uncertainty about a successor to President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and heavy dependence on oil revenue, although the return of crude towards $100 a barrel is likely to alleviate government funding pressure. More……….
What is disputed?
Many of the problems come from the fact than Angola is divided in two by a narrow strip of DRC territory. This narrow piece of territory is DRC’s only access to the sea, giving it a coastline of only 37miles. Angola’s territory north of DRC is an exclave, Cabinda, a region that has been engaged in a secession dispute for over 30 years.
Angola and DRC have both land and maritime disputes, and while they seem to be inching towards resolution on both fronts, continued political instability in the DRC and expulsions of nationals from both countries means full resolution is probably still many years away. More……..
LUANDA Dec 1 (Reuters) – Rising tension between the ruling MPLA party and the main opposition UNITA party and questions over policy-making are worrying investors in the major African oil-producing nation of Angola.
The MPLA, which emerged victorious from a 27-year civil war against UNITA in 2002, has been accused of corruption and of not doing enough to tackle widespread poverty.
Other concerns include uncertainty about a successor to President Jose Eduardo dos Santos and heavy dependence on oil revenue, feeding demands for more transparency as Angola tries to regain investor confidence after the global financial crisis. More…..
By Henrique Almeida
LUANDA, Sept 1 (Reuters) – Angolan authorities cut gasoline and diesel subsidies on Wednesday as a prelude to liberalising the country’s downstream oil sector, triggering a steep rise in pump prices and the threat of protests from irate motorists.
The cut means a litre of gasoline will cost 60 kwanzas ($0.65), a rise of 50 percent, and diesel increase by 38 percent to 40 kwanzas, state-owned oil firm Sonangol said in a statement on Wednesday. More…….
By Henrique Almeida LUANDA, Sept 1 | Wed Sep 1, 2010 8:46am EDT
(Reuters) – Angola’s ruling MPLA party emerged victorious from a 27-year civil war in 2002 promising a better life for Angolans but this dream is fading as corruption is rife and the government is seen failing to help the poor.
Despite their nation’s vast oil resources, millions of Angolans live in poverty with an estimated two-thirds of people in the country living on less than $2 a day.
Other problems include uncertainty around a possible successor to President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, liquidity problems in the banking sector and heavy dependence on oil.
Many of the issues feed demands for more government transparency and accountability as Angola tries to regain investor confidence after the global financial crisis. More……….
Angola é o próximo alvo da Commonwealth. A organização britânica integra um conjunto de países, na sua maioria ex-colónias (excepto Moçambique e Ruanda), que interagem através de parcerias. A estabilidade política e social dos últimos anos despertou o interesse dos empresários da comunidade, que se mostram disponíveis para investir na diversificação económica e para aliviar a dependência do sector petrolífero. Mais………
A delegation from US oil giant Chevron visited Kinshasa several weeks ago to discuss the building of a natural gas pipeline from its Block 0 off the Cabinda coast (see map) to Soyo in northern Angola. Initially the pipeline was supposed to go through the water, but it turned out to be too expensive, so the pipeline will have to cross Congolese territory around the mouth of the Congo river. According to some people close to the meeting, the Congolese government demanded a huge sum of money, a sum so large that Chevron had to walk away and the Angolan government, who is helping develop the $4 billion plant in Soyo, was reportedly furious. The Angolans reportedly said something like: “After everything we have done for the Congo, this is how you thank us?” More….
LUANDA, Angola, July 16 (UPI) — Separatist rebels in Angola’s oil-rich Cabinda enclave on Africa’s west coast are reportedly seeking peace talks with the Luanda regime, a move that could open vast offshore fields in the Atlantic.
Ending the 35-year conflict in Cabinda, cut off from the rest of the former Portuguese colony by a sliver of the Democratic Republic of Congo, would do much to consolidate Angola’s position as one of Africa’s leading oil producers. More……
As oil-rich Angola seeks to raise at least $2 billion from Western investors with its first international sovereign bond, the key question for investors is the extent to which the country can diversify its economy away from its dependence on crude.
For some underdeveloped economies, oil can be a curse rather than a blessing, as a lack of alternative economic opportunities often fuels discontent over the allocation of oil wealth.
In Angola, oil provides 90% of the country’s export revenue but employs less than 1% of the population. About 63% of the population still depends on agriculture for a livelihood, mostly subsistence farming. A 27-year civil war, which ended in 2002, devastated its agriculture industry, cutting access to seed and fertilizer and severing export routes to sell its products. Once the world’s fourth-biggest coffee exporter and self-sufficient in most crops, the country now is a net importer of food. More…………..
LUANDA. Through the window of Mohammed Tajideen’s run-down office building on Luanda’s main avenue along the bay called the Marginal, the profiles of dozens of ships can be made out on the horizon.
They have been waiting for weeks, in some cases months, to deliver their cargo to the overburdened port.
“On average, everything here costs about 300 per cent more,” says Mr Tajideen, the president of the import and export conglomerate Golfrate Holdings. More……….
Atlas Air has launched a new outsourced premium passenger private charter service on behalf of the United States-Africa Energy Association (USAEA). The service is known as the “Houston Express”.
Atlas Air is operating three weekly nonstop flights between George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and Luanda, Angola. The newly customized Boeing 747-400 aircraft, provided by SonAir’s parent company, feature 10 First Class, 143 Business Class and 36 Economy Class seats with the latest in-flight entertainment and comfort.
The service is not available to the public but provides USAEA members with a premium, nonstop link to support long-term energy projects in West Africa.
The flights depart Houston on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for the 14-hour, 20 minute eastbound journey, returning from Luanda on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with a flight time of 15:05.
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Bradt Guide to Angola : Update Website 