SONANGOL UNIVERSO
Universo www.universo-magazine.com
DECEMBER 2013
Ten Years of Sonangol Universo ISSUE 40 – DECEMBER 2013
OIL RECOVERY:
ANTELOPE ART:
AFROBASKET:
Improving yields
Portraits of a symbol
Angolan double victory
INSIDE:
oil and gas news
Universo is the international magazine of Sonangol Board Members Francisco de Lemos José Maria (President), Anabela Soares de Brito da Fonseca, Ana Joaquina Van-Dúnem Alves da Costa, Fernandes Gaspar Bernardo Mateus, Fernando Joaquim Roberto, Mateus Sebastião Francisco Neto, Paulino Fernando Carvalho Jerónimo Sonangol Department for Communication & Image
Corporate Communications Assistants Nadiejda Santos, Lúcio Santos, Sarissari Diniz, José Mota, Beatriz Silva, Paula Almeida, Sandra Teixeira, Marta Sousa, Hélder Sirgado, Kimesso Kissoka Publisher: Sheila O’Callaghan Editor: John Kolodziejski Managing Editor: Mauro Perillo Art Director: Tony Hill Sub Editor: Brian MacReamoinn Proofreading: Gail Nelson-Bonebrake Circulation Manager: Matthew Alexander Production Assistant: Sebnem Brown Project Consultant: Nathalie MacCarthy Group President: John Charles Gasser Universo is produced by Impact Media Custom Publishing. The views expressed in the publication are not necessarily those of Sonangol or the publishers. Reproduction in whole or in part without prior permission is prohibited. This magazine is distributed to a closed circulation. To receive a free copy: circulation@universo-magazine.com Circulation: 15,000
Davenport House 16 Pepper Street London E14 9RP United Kingdom Tel + 44 20 7510 9595 Fax +44 20 7510 9596 sonangol@impact-media.com www.universo-magazine.com www.sonangol.co.ao hld.gci@sonangol.co.ao
Angop
Director Mateus Cristovão Benza
Ten years on
A
s the publisher of Universo, I have witnessed Angola transform itself into one of the most dynamic countries in the southern hemisphere. I have also seen a people move forward with hope towards a better future that previous generations could only dream of. On my many trips to Angola, I always take pride when I look around at the transformation that has taken place in such a short time. Ten years may see no change at all in the developed world, but in Angola – a country that was barely surviving before 2003 – there have been dramatic changes in both its physical and its intellectual make-up. Manuel Vicente, vice president of Angola, summed it up very well in a speech in November commemorating the 38th anniversary of independence. “In just 11 years of peace, Angola has taken a giant leap towards progress and modernity, restoring or building from scratch the infrastructure needed to support economic and social development.” Universo has tried to capture this progress over the past decade, and we look forward to continuing to shine a light on this nation and its people.
Sheila O’Callaghan Publisher
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ANGOLA NEWS BRIEFING
A roundup of national and international news concerning Angola
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FIGURED OUT
A brief glance at Angola in numbers
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10 YEARS OF SONANGOL UNIVERSO
A look back over 40 editions covering Angola’s economic
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Contents 4
reconstruction and all things Angolan
NGOLA CROWNED AFRICAN BASKETBALL A CHAMPIONS TWICE OVER Angola’s male and female basketball teams come out tops once
again in African championships
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Angola hosted Africa’s first ever Roller Hockey World Cup and gave
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FIBA
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ANGOLAN HOCKEY ROLLS ON
further proof of its organisational prowess in international events
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The Giant Sable Antelope, the Palanca Negra Gigante, once
thought extinct, is Angola’s national symbol. A group of
Shiri Paamony Eshel
THE ART OF BEING AN ANTELOPE
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international artists celebrates and draws inspiration from the rediscovered majestic beast
38 SONANGOL NEWS BRIEFING
Highlights of noteworthy news items from Sonangol EP and
its subsidiaries
42 SECURING ANGOLA’S FUTURE
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Sonangol engineer Albina Assis suggests how a study of Norway’s sustainable oil-based economy may inspire a development model for Angola
How Angola can improve oil yields
Eduardo Grilo
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Angola news briefing Angola’s energy and water success ■ Angola held its first International Conference on
Manuel Vicente addresses UN ■ Vice president Manuel Vicente addressed the 68th General Assembly
of the United Nations in September. He told the Assembly that Angola was undergoing a dynamic process of reconstruction and development, marked by macroeconomic stability resulting from policies aimed at promoting economic diversification. The vice president reaffirmed Angola’s commitment to expanding employment opportunities and reducing dependence on both imports and its own oil. Aware of the challenge to fulfil the Millennium Development Goals, the government continued to develop programmes reducing social inequality, hunger and poverty, he explained. Upgrading social infrastructure, including the construction of roads, railways, and electricity and water supply and distribution systems, continued to be a challenge for the government, he said.
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UN Photo/Amanda Voisard
Energy and Water in Luanda in September. The event attracted local specialists as well as experts from South Africa, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Namibia, Mozambique, Portugal, Brazil, Russia, France, Italy and the United Arab Emirates. “Angola does not aim to be a consumer of technologies and solutions thought up for other realities, but it wants to be an active actor in deciding on the requirements for its social and political reality and in seeking solutions to its own problems,” João Baptista Borges, Angola’s Minister for Energy and Water, told delegates. Minister Borges said the conference, held at the same time as an energy and water trade fair, had been a great success, attracting 850 participants and 34 speakers.
Angola joins oil geologist body ■ The American Association of Petroleum Geologists
(AAPG) held an inaugural ceremony for its Angola Chapter on October 9, when the country became the ninth in Africa to join the association. The president of Angola’s AAPG committee, António Inglês, said that the institution aims to enhance scientific and technical knowledge of professionals in that area by providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and research in the oil sector all around the world. The AAPG was founded in 1917 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a city in which many leading Angolan oil figures have studied. The organisation has over 30,000 members in 116 countries.
Angola news briefing
Angolan inventions win major awards
■ Angolan inventors have won nine medals, surpassing their
previous total of seven, at iENA (International Trade Fair for Ideas, Inventions and New Products). The fair took place in Nuremberg, Germany, on October 31–November 3. Inácio Augusto Simão won a gold medal for his translation software for gestural verbs and sounds in Angola’s national languages. Simão was also awarded a silver medal for making a candleholder that can recycle wax. Inventor Ricardo Figueiredo received silver for an automatic window cleaning machine. Mpanda Makambua also won silver for the design of teaching
materials from recovered materials for the teaching of geometrical optics, as did Hélder Silva for a set of 10 works presented. Gabriel Luis Miguel was awarded a gold medal and a certificate of merit for the commitment and support that the Ministry of Science and Technology has given to inventors in Angola. Three bronze medals were given respectively to Mavi Nguengo, for an intelligent refrigerator; Adilson Octávio da Costa for a nationwide system of payments using fingerprinting, and Mabiala Damasco, for a dental treatment apparatus. Damasco was also honoured with the award of a portrait of Leonardo da Vinci and a diploma of merit from the European Association of Inventors.
FIGURED OUT
Angola in numbers
$72 billion Angola’s 2014 state budget
700,000 domestic plumbing connections underway in Luanda
2.3 million
target for Angola’s skilled employee pool by 2020
6,000km
length of planned cable link from Angola to Brazil
$37.5 billion total trade between China and Angola
DECEMBER 2013 5
Angola news briefing
Angola’s kwanza abroad ■ Angola’s official currency, the kwanza, is now
being freely traded outside the country. From November 11, the money can be exchanged in France, Portugal, Mozambique and Namibia. According to Angola’s state news agency, Angop, the move to internationalise the use of the kwanza was initiated by Portuguese money exchange company, NovaCâmbios.
Ondjaki wins Saramago Prize
Michael Hughes
■ Angolan writer Ondjaki was
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awarded the José Saramago prize for literature in Lisbon in November. The prize, worth €25,000, was for his latest book Os Transparentes (The Transparent Ones). Ondjaki dedicated the victory to Angola and the Angolan people. Born in Luanda in 1977, the author is a Sociology graduate and has completed a doctorate in Italy.
Angola news briefing
■ Angola opened a new oil industry training centre in October at the National Oil
Institute (INP) campus at Sumbe, Kwanza Sul province. The centre, which has advanced equipment from the United States, Portugal and Germany, can train up to 120 students in mechanical and metal construction, plumbing and gas, maintenance and industrial automation, electricity and energy, information technology, design, quality and the environment. The centre is funded jointly by the Total group and the Angolan government and is intended to prepare young people to enter the labour market and bring vocational training closer to the reality of businesses’ needs. Set up in 1983, the INP offers courses in oil geology, mining, drilling and production, gas processing, oil instrumentation, oil installation mechanics, industrial electricity, production and refinery operators, and has 83 teaching staff.
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New oil industry training centre
Foreign minister meets Chinese counterpart ■ The Angolan Foreign Affairs Minister, Georges
Rebelo Pinto Chikoti, held talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, during a two-day visit to China in September. Chikoti said that China is a strategic and privileged partner with Angola and that trade was worth $37.5 billion in 2012. He highlighted that cooperation accords signed in 1984 between the two nations showed a trajectory of proximity and the growth of economic interdependence. The delegation also included the Angolan ambassador to China, Garcia Bires, and the director of the Foreign Affairs Ministry for Asia and Oceania, Ambassador André Panzo.
TAAG starts second Beijing service ■ Angola’s national carrier TAAG introduced a second weekly direct
flight to Beijing in September. The 14-hour trip will be aboard a Boeing 777-200. The company plans to add a third weekly Beijing flight in 2014. China is Angola’s largest trading partner.
DECEMBER 2013 7
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SHADOWING DEVELOPMENT:
10 YEARS
OF SONANGOL UNIVERSO
To commemorate the 10th anniversary of Universo we look back over Angola’s past decade, remembering a period of successes the magazine has been privileged to document
W
itnessing Angola’s transformation, Universo began its life as Angola’s international magazine just a little less than two years after the 2002 peace accords. For a decade Universo has been well placed to monitor the country’s remarkable reconstruction efforts. Our reports have shadowed fast paced developments and monitored others that by their nature take longer to mature. We have also reported on many other aspects of life in Angola with a view to making the country better known and understood around the world. Universo’s features have not been restricted to the capital, Luanda, but have also included forays into the provinces to register their enduring variety and to examine economic revivals that might otherwise have received scant attention. In the past decade, Universo has travelled to and reported on Huambo, Zaire, Kwanza Norte and Sul, Bengo, Huíla, Cabinda, Malange and Benguela. We aim to cover the rest of the provinces in future editions. Angola’s international relations and foreign partnerships provide an alternative viewpoint and shed light on the various pathways of its development process. With this in mind, we have run in-depth features on Angola’s economic and cultural ties with Brazil, the Netherlands, the United
States, Germany, Japan, Scotland and China. These have yielded delightful and often surprising stories of international exchanges where both the host and guest citizens of each country have described their encounters. Apart from the main theme of monitoring national reconstruction, our reports have also embraced art, architecture, fashion, music, dance, film and sport, and ephemera such as exhibitions, international events and conferences. The logic of Angola’s reconstruction has guided Universo’s reporting. In order to resume its conflict-interrupted development, the government has embarked on the wholesale rebuilding and expansion of its basic infrastructure. Consequently, Universo has been a privileged witness to the complete revamping of the country’s three railways and several thousand kilometres of highways. Universo has been able to verify this speedy transformation, a wideranging process unmatched anywhere else on the African continent. As President José Eduardo dos Santos has pointed out, this is despite the onerous and dangerous task of having to carry out large scale demining. The president said areas of 112km of highways and 486km along electricity transmission lines had been cleared in recent months, illustrating the chronic problem that mines represent.
DECEMBER 2013 9
Eric Lafforgue
First steps Angola has taken the first steps in laying the foundations for its redevelopment. Basic transport and port infrastructure – a lack of which had been a major obstacle to national unity and growth – have been put in place. People and goods are now circulating freely throughout this vast country. Frequent visitors to Angola are always astonished at how rapidly its physical landscape is changing, and this is most noticeable in the capital, Luanda. The broad sweep of Luanda’s oyster-shaped bay is a visual treat and the scene of constant change. The ever altering cityscape and horizon, punctuated by rapidly rising skyscrapers, is best appreciated from the bay’s edge. On the seafront students sit on benches looking out
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“THE DEFINITIVE ACHIEVEMENT OF PEACE IN 2002 HAS MADE IT ONE OF THE MOST PROMISING COUNTRIES ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT, OPENING THE DOORS TO DEVELOPMENT AFTER MASSIVE LOSSES AND DESTRUCTION” – VICTOR LIMA, ANGOLA’S AMBASSADOR TO SPAIN
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to sea; couples and families amble along the water’s edge, where the surface is frequently rippled by fast moving fish shoals. In the cool of evening, the more energetic jog or play basketball on the bayside courts. A stroll along the palm-rimmed pedestrian walkway allows the visitor to check out progress on the new buildings taking shape. Eyes are currently drawn to the hilltop development at Kinaxixi Square, where the first 15-floors above a new shopping centre now overlook the bay. Kinaxixi is the symbolic centre of Luanda and once was home to a city marketplace and a wide square. Soon it will regain its commercial importance, but with buildings on a much larger scale. The new Luanda Bay development is a good example of Angola’s renewal of public spaces; elsewhere in the city long-neglected pavements and small public parks and squares are now becoming more pleasant places for pedestrians and residents. Angola’s urban areas are being transformed into places where people dwell and commercial and leisure opportunities are booming. Bars, cafes, restaurants and supermarkets – long absent – are now reappearing in ever greater numbers. There are currently two new shopping centres under construction in Luanda’s downtown, and new sporting and cultural facilities are appearing in the shape of sports stadiums, museums and galleries. Tourism is reviving, and Luanda now has several high-standard hotels, as do other Angolan cities and resorts. New banks and telecom service centres are prominent features on Angolan city streets and have been the subject of Universo stories, as the country not only catches up with development but at times leapfrogs it. Angola introduced 4G mobile services, ahead of the United States and many European countries. Indeed, Angola’s greatest gain, witnessed by Universo, has been the re-establishment and maintenance of peace. To walk through Luanda is now an exercise in savouring the fruits of this happy state of affairs. Political legitimacy buttresses Angola’s stability, the government has seen three election victories since independence in 1975, including landslide wins in 2008 and 2012, both the subject of Universo reports.
Kinaxixi shopping centre takes shape
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Kinaxixi Square's deep foundations
Angola oil output, mbpd* 2003............................................................................0.870 2004............................................................................1.103 2005............................................................................1.404 2006............................................................................1.421 2007............................................................................1.684 2008............................................................................1.901 2009............................................................................1.804 2010............................................................................1.863 2011............................................................................1.726 2012............................................................................1.784
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2013............................................................................1.800**
Peace dividends The Angolan government has presided over consistently high growth rates during the period Universo has been in print, despite the temporary dip caused by the world economic downturn at the end of 2008. In the period 2003–13, Angola’s GDP grew at the fastest rate for a large African country. These startlingly high growth rates reflect two things: first, how much the Angolan economy needed to catch up in its development after decades of low economic activity, and second, the great energy unleashed by government investment policy. “Projections for the coming years are optimistic, but growth needs to be guaranteed so that this is reflected in
Source: BP *million barrels per day **Sonangol projection
better living conditions. The rising benefits of growth must be invested in improving social indicators and the aims of the executive, which is working to improve the quality of sanitation, education and housing, and also in training Angolans and reducing unemployment,” explains Victor Lima, Angola’s ambassador to Spain. Angola’s rapid return to economic growth would not have been possible if it did not have the finance available. This has been mainly provided by the country’s growing oil wealth thanks to higher output and improved oil prices. The visitor who ventures further away from the heart of Luanda will see where large amounts of the country’s oil wealth have been spent. The government’s priority
has been to build new and rebuild damaged infrastructure: roads, bridges, railways, airports, water supplies and power networks. At the same time it has made efforts to meet the people’s needs with the provision of new schools, hospitals and housing, but this, given the size of pent-up demand, is a longer-term task. Although the oil and gas sector provides over 70% of government revenues, it yields relatively few employment opportunities. Angola aims to diversify its economy and create many more jobs in industry, services and, most importantly, agriculture. Universo has assiduously tracked the development of this process now taking shape.
DECEMBER 2013 11
President dos Santos greets UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
At the same time as realising a systematic plan for sustainable economic development, the Angolan government is also making efforts to meet people’s basic needs. Water supply, basic sanitation and energy are at the top of this agenda. President José Eduardo dos Santos has a clear vision of how the country’s development will proceed, as he outlined in a speech in October. “The main objective of current economic policy is to diversify the economy so as to make the development process less vulnerable and more sustainable. That’s why we have conceived the programmes and priority structuring projects, the framework for public spending for development in the medium term,” he explained. “Our intention is to complete, by the beginning of 2016, the main projects in the energy and water sectors and the programme of rebuilding secondary and tertiary roads and the construction of logistical platform structures and thus support rural commerce, so as to create the conditions for increasing private investment in the production of goods and services with competitive advantages and so raise employment.” Universo is following progress on these maturing developments closely.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Presidential vision
Angola GDP growth rates, % 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 3.3 11.2 18.3 20.6 22.6 13.8 2.4 3.4 3.9 7.9 8.8* Source: World Bank *African Economic Outlook estimate
“ANGOLANS ARE WORKING HARD TO RECOVER THE TIME LOST DURING THE WAR, OVERCOME THE DIFFICULTIES AND IMPROVE THE CONDITIONS IN WHICH THEY LIVE” – PRESIDENT JOSÉ EDUARDO DOS SANTOS
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Water and energy
Angola's current largest dam, Capanda, generates 520MW
BY 2017 THE GIANT LAÚCA DAM WILL CONTRIBUTE A MASSIVE 2,067MW TO ANGOLA'S ENERGY NETWORK
The context and starting point for Angola’s development cannot be understated. Mass internal migration has exacerbated problems as the arrival of new people has caused urban centres to swell. Luanda was designed for around 500,000 people, but conservative estimates now put the population close to 5 million. Water treatment works to meet this demand in the capital are under construction as part of a $650 million project but will only come onstream after 2013. Universo has reported on progress on water and energy projects throughout Angola. They are key elements in the preparation for the second phase of the country’s development. We have closely followed Angola’s massive investment in energy generation along the River Kwanza, where the Cambambe dam is now producing 180MW but is upgrading to a huge 960MW in 2015. The Laúca power dam holds even greater promise. Work began in 2012 is on schedule to generate 2,067MW by 2017. By October 2013, 70 per cent of work had been completed on diverting the river course to make way for the dam. Laúca will overshadow the 520MW Capanda dam, Angola’s main source of power. Elsewhere some smaller dams restarted operations in 2012, such as Gove (60MW) near Huambo and Mabubas (27MW) near Caxito. Their effect is already felt in industrial and irrigation projects.
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Road to recovery
DECEMBER 2013 13
The huge challenge remaining, as in the case of water supply, is to link these new power sources to homes and industries throughout Angola via nationwide and local transmission and distribution systems. Angola’s public water and power distribution companies face a difficult situation in inserting their networks in shanty-towns, musseques. One way to obviate this difficulty has been to build completely new residential areas with the water, sanitation and power supplies installed in advance. Universo has reported widely on the new areas in Luanda under development, such as Kilamba Kiaxi, Zango and Cacuaco. These three residential developments, plus the higherincome areas of Luanda Sul and Talatona, also benefit from good access to the city’s beltway and industrial areas such as Viana and Angola’s national highway network. Although these new suburban areas offering tens of thousands of new homes are welcome additions, high-quality housing is still in short supply given the massive demand, and remains a daunting challenge for the government.
Part of the Zango development in 2011
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Housing solutions
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Industrial development Viana
Coming to fruition Over the past decade Universo has tracked many projects in Angola; some have suffered frustrating false starts and delays. However, we are now entering a period when the combination of many long-term projects will begin to bear fruit. A good case in point is the Angola LNG project. This is now sending liquefied natural gas, once wasted in flaring and polluting the atmosphere, to markets in Brazil and Asia, adding another earnings stream for Angola. The restart of Angola’s once important mining industry is now only a short step away, perhaps just a year. The railways and port facilities are in place for iron and manganese ore traffic in southern Angola. Companies are now reactivating abandoned mines and prospecting new ones. Angola’s textile industry is also reviving, with Luanda’s re-equipped Angola Téxtil, cotton plant ready to start operations in early 2014. Most importantly, the long process of establishing huge agribusiness projects, especially in Malange province, is ready to come on stream. One of these, Biocom, will result in Angola becoming largely selfsufficient in sugar in 2014 and most likely completely so in 2015. Without new power supplies and road connections, this project would not have been possible. Universo has followed the long preparation process for these projects, and it is a delight to see them come to fruition.
THE RESTART OF ANGOLA'S ONCE IMPORTANT MINING INDUSTRY IS ONLY ONE SHORT STEP AWAY
A corn plantation, Kwanza Sul
DECEMBER 2013 15
NEED HI RES
Rui Tavares Shutterstock
HO/Miss Universe Organization
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Mucubal girl with Ompota headdress
UN Photo/Evan Schneider
Although economic development has been at the core of each of our editions since 2004, Universo has also covered many other areas with the hope of passing on to our international readership something of the flavour of Angola. We have endeavoured to bring to a wider public stories close to the heart of Angolans, such as cuisine, Miss Universe (a title Angola won in 2012), Angola’s successful sportsmen and women, as well as tourism, ecology, wildlife conservation, beer, artisan coffee production, development of the diamond cutting industry, sports fishing, contemporary dance, exhibitions of Angolan masks and carvings in Paris, and the education of Angolans at home and abroad, to name but a few. The first decade of Universo registered the laying of the foundations for Angola’s national reconstruction. These foundations are now in place or approaching completion. Our magazine will take even greater pleasure in reporting on the realisation of these schemes. Longer-term projects whetting our reporters’ appetites include presalt developments, the completion of Lobito’s new refinery, new deepwater ports at Dande near Luanda and in Cabinda, and, most importantly, efforts at poverty reduction through better housing, sanitation, energy supply and educational facilities. The future for Sonangol, Angola and Universo continues to be bright. Estamos juntos – we’re in this together! p
Eric Lafforgue
A taste of Angola
Angola LNG
Sonangol’s activities and conquests have, of course, been the main and constant focus of Universo’s attentions. Over our decade of existence we have reported on Sonangol’s near-doubling of output through the bringing into production of new offshore fields; its expansion of trading operations around the globe; the ending of fuel distribution bottlenecks through the opening of petrol stations and domestic gas outlets supported by more efficient logistics; its breakthrough into the LNG market and shipping; and, crucially, education, training and the development of local content in its supply chain. Universo will continue to monitor all of Sonangol’s developments, especially the exciting area of pre-salt exploration, but also the tasks the company undertakes in housing and in industrial development. DECEMBER 2013 17
Sonangol timeline‌ last 10 years Houston
2003..... Sonangol P&P begins operating in offshore Block 3: the company’s first direct drilling experience 2004.....Angolan oil production reaches 1 million bpd 2005..... Sonangol Distribuidora opens first petrol station abroad 2007.....Sonangol USA (Houston) celebrates 10th anniversary 2008.....New Sonangol head office opens in Luanda 2008.....Liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant planned 2009..... Licences approved for proposed Lobito refinery
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2009..... Sonangol record production at 1.79 million bpd
2003 18 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
2004
2006
2005 Brazuk
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Singapore
2007
2008
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Kamene M Traça
2011
2012
2013
2010 Shutterstock
2009 2011..... Signing of production sharing contracts for pre-salt blocks in Angola 2012..... Franciso de Lemos José Maria succeeds Manuel Vicente as Sonangol board president 2012..... First oil find in Angola’s pre-salt layer Pre-salt reserves estimated at 30 billion barrels 2012..... Sonangol sets up LNG trading company in London 2012..... Foundation stone laid for Lobito refinery (200,000 bpd) 2013..... Sonangol Asia (Singapore) celebrates 10 years of operations 2013..... Angola makes first LNG delivery 2013..... Sonangol Distribuidora opens its 440th petrol station in Angola 2013..... Proven oil reserves reach 12.67 billion barrels
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2013..... Oil output at 1.75 million bpd
DECEMBER 2013 19
6.1 million pupils in school
2012
Work begins on Angola’s largest dam: Laúca
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President dos Santos re-elected
2012
José Sayovo wins Paralympic gold again
Angola’s establishes a sovereign wealth fund
Samuel Kubani HO/Miss Universe Organization
Angola’s José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos assumes OPEC chairmanship
2011
Angola wins Miss Universe
Angola starts 4G telecoms services ahead of many European countries
2012
Wang Yuguo
Pedro Vaz Pinto
2012
2008
Simon Mundy
2012
Angola takes part in Shanghai Expo UN Photo/Evan Schneider
2012
2010
Angola hosts CAN 2010 African soccer championship Owen Franken
Angolan President attends G8 summit
2010
Jornal Da Saúde Angola
2009
Sprinter José Sayovo wins three Paralympic gold medals Joe Klamar
President José Eduardo dos Santos wins re-election Shutterstock
Angola joins OPEC
2008
2012
Angola participates in Yeosu, South Korea Expo
Getty Images
2008
2006
Angola stops to watch its first World Cup participation
John Browning
2006
Giant Sable Antelope rediscovered
Malocha
Noah’s ark: Angola starts restocking the Kissama wildlife reserves Eric Lafforgue
Angola’s first full year of peace
2005
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2004
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2003
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Major events in Angola
2013
Angola wins Venice Biennale
UN Photo/ Rick Bajornas
UN Photo/ Paulo Filgueiras
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Illustrious Visitors to Angola
Hillary Clinton José Manuel Durão Barroso
HALO Trust
UN Photo/ Evan Schneider
Jacob Zuma
Angela Merkel PCN/Corbis
Prince Harry
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UN Photo/ Devra Berkowitz
Michael Johnson
Pedro Passos Coelho
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UN Photo/ Mark Garten
UN Photo/ Eskinder Debebe
Pope Benedict XVI
Wen Jiabao
Dilma Rousseff
Ban Ki-moon
DECEMBER 2013 21
FIBA
SPORT
ANGOLA CROWNED AFRICAN BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS TWICE OVER Angola’s male and female basketball players once again shone in international competition with the conquest of two African championship titles
A
ngola’s men’s basketball team defeated Egypt by 57 points to 40 in the final of the 27th FIBA Africa Championship on August 31. Angola reclaimed their title after being upset by Tunisia in the same tournament in 2011. With this latest gold, Angola has now won 11 of the last 13 Afrobasket tournaments. Angolan star Carlos Morais scored more than a third of the team’s points total with 21 baskets in the top match with Egypt. Teammate Eduardo Mingas scored 12 points and 12 rebounds (gaining possession after a basket attempt), while Egypt’s top scorer was Sheriff Abdalla with 15 points. Egypt started brightly and led 13–12 after the first quarter, but the Angolans took charge from then on and changed the pace of the game. Angola’s defence snuffed out the threat from one of Egypt’s main players, Assem Marei, who was stopped from scoring in the first 18 minutes. Before playing Angola,
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Marei had averaged 15.8 points and 12 rebounds, but the Angolan side managed to limit his points total to just 7 and his rebounds to 8. Angola had arrived at the final undefeated in six games in the competition, whereas Egypt had lost their first three before hitting better form and beating reigning champions Tunisia as well as Cape Verde and Senegal. Angola and Egypt are both guaranteed a spot in next year’s FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain. They’ll be joined by Senegal, who took third place over hosts Côte d’Ivoire following a narrow 57–56 win. Angola’s Carlos Morais, aged 27, was named the tournament’s MVP (Most Valuable Player) and attracted the attention of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors. He then spent some time training with them afterwards. The Raptors’ general manager is Masai Ujiri, the first African to lead a North American sports franchise. p
Carlos Morais scores for Angola
FIBA
DECEMBER 2013 23
SPORT
BASKETBALL QUEENS
DO IT AGAIN!
Angola’s women’s basketball team won Afrobasket for the second consecutive year. The championship took place on September 20-29. The victory was especially inspiring as the Angolans beat their hosts Mozambique 64–61 in Maputo in front of a packed partisan crowd. The result meant both Angola and Mozambique qualified to represent Africa in the 2014 FIBA World Championship for Women in Turkey. “We were a bit nervous, and, because we were champions, we were the target to beat for the rest of the teams. But our sense of responsibility and our calm and experience meant we came out victorious in all our games,” team captain Nacissela Maurício told the Angolan press. Maurício, aged 33, was judged Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive Afrobasket. She was also voted one of the five dream team members of Afrobasket alongside Mozambique’s Leia Dongue and Deolinda Ngulela, Senegal’s Aston Traore and Cameroon’s Ramses Lonack.
The core of the successful Angolan squad consisted of Catarina Camufal, Astrid Vicente, Nguendula Filipe, Nadir Manuel, Sónia Guadalupe (Interclube); Fineza Eusébio, Nacissela Maurício, Luísa Tomás, Madalena Felix, Felizarda Jorge (1° Agosto); Clarisse Mpaka, Whitney Miguel (France). p
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FIBA
The Angolan squad
Afrobasket 2013 men’s results Gold:
Angola
Silver:
Egypt
Bronze:
Senegal
Afrobasket 2013 women’s results Gold:
Angola
Silver:
Mozambique
Bronze:
Senegal DECEMBER 2013 25
Gordon Morrison
SPORT
ANGOLAN HOCKEY
ROLLS ON Angola successfully staged Africa’s first Roller Hockey World Cup. Universo watched the action
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Clémentine Baume
[Tony- Pictures of the new stadia: Luanda ‘Multi-uso’ and Namibe: Welwitschia Mirablis – maybe light show and opening by president - plus action shots]
A
ngola became the first African country ever to host the FIRS Roller Hockey World Championship in September. Spain won the 41st edition of the competition by defeating Argentina 4–3 in the final and thus claimed the trophy for a remarkable 16th time. Spain beat Switzerland, Austria, Brazil, France and Chile on their way to the final. Angola’s results were below the expectations of home fans, but the team still managed to reach a creditable ninth place in the 2013 edition of the biannual competition. Angola secured decisive victories over South Africa (8–2), Colombia (6–3), Germany (4–1) and Switzerland (6–1).
Boost for country’s image Although Angola’s roller hockey team was disappointed not to make the knockout stage of the World Cup, officials said the event was a great advertisement for Angola, showing once again that it can organise international competitions seamlessly as it had done previously with the African football championship, CAN 2010. The hockey competition went off without a hitch, demonstrating Angola’s competence in running major sporting events. Angola had been trying since 2006 to host the roller hockey championship, and the organisers made the most of the opportunity to do so with some style and warmth. They put on a colourful opening ceremony and spectacle with a light show, dance and music.
Angola invested $89 million building new sports halls in Luanda and Namibe, and then spent a further $17 million on staging the tournament. Carlos Alberto Jaime, coordinator of the event, said the new Luanda sports pavilion was something of which all Angolans may feel proud, as it was built in a record time of around nine months. The two new stadiums are the enduring legacy of the competition. The country now has a pair of attractive, modern, multipurpose facilities that can be used for both indoor sports and cultural events. The new stadium in the capital was officially named Multi-Sports of Luanda by President José Eduardo dos Santos. The 12,720-seat purpose-built facility has easy road access as it is located alongside the Camama football stadium on the city’s beltway near Kilamba Kiaxi new town. It is also visually impressive, especially at night, when it is brightly lit up in red, yellow and black – Angola’s national colours. The second stadium at Namibe, Angola’s main southern port, is a smaller affair with seating for 3,072 spectators. This was officially named the Welwitschia Mirabilis Pavilion after the long-tentacled desert plant found in the region. Despite a lack of trophies, Angolan sport can consider itself the big winner of the 2013 Roller Hockey World Cup as it now has two new world-class venues where its roller hockey, basketball, handball, volleyball and other indoor sports teams can prepare for future successes. p
2013 FIRS Roller Hockey World Championship: Final Standings 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Spain Argentina Portugal Chile Italy
6. Brazil 7. Mozambique 8. France 9. Angola 10. Switzerland
Roller Hockey History Angola’s love affair with roller hockey is rooted in the country’s Portuguese connection. Portugal took part in the first ever Roller Hockey World Cup in April 1936 in Stuttgart, Germany, and came out in a creditable third place. The other countries involved were England, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France and Belgium. England beat Italy in the final. Angola’s first participation in the World Cup, was in 1982 in Portugal, when it reached 11th place out of 23. Angola’s best classification to date was sixth in 2009 in Vigo, Spain. The next Roller Hockey World Cup will be held in 2015 at Roche-sur-Yon, France, and 2017 in Maputo, Mozambique. The first three teams in the 2013 competition have qualified for inclusion in the 2015 event.
DECEMBER 2013 27
ART CULTURE
THE
28 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
OF BEING AN
ANTELOPE
Angola’s emblematic but endangered Giant Sable Antelope is the subject of an art exhibition by local and foreign artists in Luanda. Universo wandered among the exhibits
DECEMBER 2013 29
Shiri Paamony Eshel
By Lula Ahrens
CULTURE
T
Shiri Paamony Eshel
he Giant Sable Antelope (Palanca Negra Gigante in Portuguese) stands more than just head and shoulders above other antelopes; its horns alone can grow to an impressive 1.5 metres. Although this majestic beast symbolises Angola as a nation, its very existence was in doubt until its rediscovery in Malange province in 2005. Known to Angolans simply as Palanca, the antelope provides the nickname of Angola’s national football team (Palancas Negras) and is also the logo of the national airline, TAAG, where Palanca heads adorn the tail fins of all its planes. In African mythology, antelopes symbolise vivacity, velocity, beauty and visual sharpness. Ten local and foreign artists have aimed to capture some of these qualities in the exhibition Being an Antelope (Ser Palanca), which lasted from October 15 until November 30 at Independence Park in Luanda. The starting point for each artist was a wooden Giant Sable model built by awardwinning Israeli artist Yoav Ben Dov. “Working on the wooden antelopes was like meeting the animal itself. I wanted to do it justice,” he told Universo at the
30 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
artist’s studio in Luanda’s Benfica district. Ben Dov did extensive research on the Giant Sable and then built ten identical 2.4-metre-high wooden models, on to which the artists have added their own painted and sculptural interpretations of the legendary animal. Their brief was to represent the values of peace, unity, tolerance, biodiversity and self-esteem. The ten antelope frames are made entirely of local, natural materials. “We initially considered using ebony (a rare tree, protected in Angola), but that did not allow us to use large pieces. So instead we burned construction timber to achieve the blackness,” Ben Dov explained. Angola’s characteristic red soil was used to create the model antelopes’ bases. The Being an Antelope project was conceived and organised by the Art and Culture Foundation (Fundação Arte e Cultura) in partnership with the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Culture and the Provincial Government of Luanda. The foundation is a private, non-profit organisation established by Israel’s Mitrelli Group in 2006. It launched the project to raise awareness of the values of peace, unity, tolerance, biodiversity and selfesteem. As a follow-up to the exhibition, the artists involved gave art workshops to young Angolans based on these five values. At the exhibition’s opening night, 550 guests and their hosts celebrated the Giant Sable in all its splendour. They were treated to a performance by traditional Angolan band Cubico, while admiring the ten beautifully lit antelope statues across Independence Park. In their speeches, Minister of Culture Rosa Cruz e Silva and Minister of Environment Fátima Jardim applauded the initiative to help spread the idea of the Giant Sable as a symbol of national culture, and made a heartfelt appeal to preserve it as a species. As artist Miguel Gonçalves summarised in his opening speech, “To be a Palanca is to be Angolan. Peace, unity, tolerance, biodiversity and self-esteem are human values that are indispensable to the positive development of any society. Thanks to this attitude and our perseverance, the Giant Dr Pedro Vaz Pinto: a life dedicated to rediscovering the palanca
Sable Antelope that exists in every one of us will never be extinguished.”
Ensuring the Giant Sable’s survival The Giant Sable (Hippotragus niger variani) is one of the world’s most critically endangered mammals. Fewer than 100 animals remain today, mostly in natural preservation areas at Cangandala National Park in Malange. The VIP guest speaker at the opening night was Dr Pedro Vaz Pinto, environmental advisor and researcher at the Catholic University of Angola, who launched the Giant Sable Conservation Project in 2003 in partnership with the Ministry of Environment. He is also programme manager for the Kissama Foundation, which has implemented most of the project’s objectives since 2009. The Kissama Foundation’s activities fall under government supervision through the Ministry of Environment, while Block 15, Sonangol, ExxonMobil and Angola LNG are the main sponsors. Other contributors are the Angolan Air Force, Toyota and Unitel. Soon after Angola re-established peace in 2002, Dr Vaz Pinto began his quest to save the Giant Sable. “There was a lot of controversy and doubt about the possible survival of the Giant Sable Antelope, following decades of civil war,” he told Universo. “Many argued that it could be extinct, but I couldn’t resist trying to prove them wrong.” In January 2005, a study group led
CULTURE
by Dr Vaz Pinto managed to present photographic evidence of one of the last Giant Sable herds in Cangandala National Park. They were the first pictures taken of the antelope since 1982. “To prove that the animal had survived, we needed to present hard evidence,” Dr Vaz Pinto said. “What better evidence than photographs? So in 2004, I planted six trap-cameras, which in the beginning of 2005 photographed a herd of Giant Sable females in broad daylight. This proved that Angola’s national symbol was still alive, and justified our effort and strategy. It was a major success.” In 2009, the capture programme was launched, which transferred all the pure Giant Sable females from Luando Reserve in the south of Malange to Cangandala National Park further north by air, to a safe
4,000-hectare fenced enclosure. After that, Dr Vaz Pinto and his colleagues initiated a successful breeding programme.
Number one threat Poaching currently poses the main threat to the Palanca, particularly in Luando Reserve. An alarming 15 per cent of adult animals captured or photographed in 2012 had leg injuries caused by traps. “We need a very strong commitment from the government to tackle it,” Dr Vaz Pinto said. “Poaching thrives due to the remoteness of Luando Reserve, plus its lack of infrastructure and law enforcement. The Angolan military have been supportive and sensitive to the cause. They may play a decisive role in eradicating poaching in Luando in the near future.” As the Palanca Negra Gigante’s patron,
Dr Vaz Pinto cherishes his strong bond with the animal. “The Giant Sable is obviously the most special animal in the world to me because of its intrinsic beauty, uniqueness, endemism and rarity, because it is a worthy national symbol and because I have committed most of my professional life to it. In a way, I feel linked to its future. “Many countries in the world have an animal as national symbol chosen for its uniqueness, rarity, imposing presence, beauty or charisma. But in my opinion, none of them has one that embodies all of these features in such a spectacular way as the Giant Sable Antelope does for Angola.” p
“To be a Palanca is to be Angolan. Peace, unity, tolerance, biodiversity and self-esteem are human values that are indispensable to the positive development of any society.”
Shiri Paamony Eshel
– Miguel Gonçalves, artist
Shiri Paamony Eshel
Shiri Paamony Eshel
Horácia Fernando Nunda speaks to the press
DECEMBER 2013 31
CULTURE
Shiri Paamony Eshel
Miguel Kidi Lopes da Silva (22)
Stephanie Gotterson (26) Originally from California, she is a part-time art teacher at the International School in Luanda. She has been living in Angola for two years. “I chose unity and the connectedness with Mother Nature,” she told Universo.
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He has been producing art since he was only seven years old. He has been living in the Mulemba orphanage since early childhood. Despite his underprivileged background, Lopes da Silva has, thanks to his talent, already made impressive accomplishments for his age. Last year, he participated in an exhibition at the well-known Luanda art institute Celamar. In 2010 he exhibited his art at the Luanda International School. “I also sometimes sell pieces at Christmas fairs, or privately,” he told Universo. Lopes da Silva donates part of the profits to support the orphanage he lives in. “My Palanca represents the values [of] union and biodiversity. Biodiversity relates to differing contributions in knowledge, culture and art. ‘Union’ in my Palanca relates to the force and continuity of all of us artists painting together during the Ser Palanca project. The lower part of my Palanca contains a map of Angola with a Palanca in the middle, because it occupies such a central and key place in our country and because it lives nowhere else in the world. The faces represent biodiversity; differences in knowledge, values and culture. “My Palanca also contains the baobab tree, which is a force, a symbol of union and energy because it remains firm, even during times of rain and drought. “Ser Palanca to me means being Angolan. The Palanca Negra Gigante is invaluable. Therefore we must care for and preserve it, for now and for future generations.”
CULTURE
Sebastião João Lopes Delgado (33)
DECEMBER 2013 33
Shiri Paamony Eshel
Shiri Paamony Eshel
“The title of my Palanca is ‘Righteous & Mixed’. It represents society, the urban, our everyday reality, the end and the beginning. The message I try to convey is inclusion. We can all be in my Palanca Negra Gigante, forever united towards the future. “The project Ser Palanca to me means ‘union’ more than anything else, because it provides the opportunity to interact with people regardless of their colour or ethnic origin. Where there is unity there is peace, tolerance and many other values that make us Angolans a unique people. “The Palanca for Angolans is a symbol, an icon, an identity. It’s like our homeland, Angola. Angola is ours, and we are hers.”
Shiri Paamony Eshel
CULTURE
Francesca Romanin (36)
34 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
Miguel Gonçalves (43) “The Palanca in general represents us Angolans legitimately and exclusively. My Palanca represents the five values in two different ways. Both sides represent peace, unity, tolerance, self-esteem and biodiversity. I have added the mirrors to let the observer identify which side he associates himself with the most. The Angolan people, in general, are a people rich in friendship, in love, in the exhibition’s five central values and a lot more. I opted to use gold metal to represent the value of Angolans. The base represents Angola’s past, and the evolution it has gone through up until today. “The story of Angola begins with slavery, which is symbolised in the lower part of my Palanca. Going up, you land in what represents our time. This upper, blank part represents our future.”
Shiri Paamony Eshel
She is an English art teacher and artist living in Luanda. She formerly taught art to four- to nineteen-year-olds in Angola. “My Palanca has two different sides. One side is a contemporary, abstract scan of my painting of the local heliconia flower, which I then printed. By re-scanning, photoshopping, cutting and manipulating pieces of the painting, I created an entirely new image with connections to Ser Palanca which evolves according to the viewer. “The red blocks of colour represent sunrise and sunset, because both form a huge part of Angola’s awe-inspiring beauty. The colours also represent the national flag. “The white circle represents the head of a child who is playing an accordion. The book represents education, culture, communication and creativity. The blue swirly lines around the child’s head represent flows of thought and mental journeys. I associate the lines in the body with agricultural work, the energy in urban Luanda and journeys. The second side of my Palanca displays pop art influences. It includes iconic animals, other Angolan symbols and an abundance of messages. I created it to make the viewer think deeper.”
Shiri Paamony Eshel
CULTURE
Shiri Paamony Eshel
Rita GT (33) She is Portuguese but lived in New York, Brazil, Berlin, Sweden and Lisbon before moving to Angola. In Sweden, she completed her master’s in Fine Arts. “But I found myself as an artist and a person in Angola,” she told Universo. “I came to stay. “This is a Palanca Mkisi. It incorporates the tradition whereby a magician is asked to create an amulet to protect someone or a group. Normally it has the shape of a warrior, a man full of nails with a mirror in his chest to expel the bad spirits. It’s a very large responsibility to call up a mkisi, because by doing that one enters the spiritual realm. “I use the mkisi as a metaphor. I believe that I, as an artist, can be commissioned to protect the Palanca Negra Gigante with this Palanca Mkisi. “I decided to concentrate the spiritual energies in the core of the Palanca, a little wooden box with a mirror inside. The rest will remain black, because the wooden model is already a sculpture in itself. I wanted to preserve Yoav’s [Ben Dov’s] message. It’s very hard to intervene, to cover it with layers of information.”
Shiri Paamony Eshel
Mariza dos Santos (56) Trees and dancers are a recurrent theme in her work. “I feel like a tree,” she said, “because I have never left my country. My roots are in Angola. Roots represent the only form of life that never ends. I love my country, absolutely and unconditionally. “My Palanca represents kindness and selfesteem. My use of blue represents peace; the trees represent life and sustainability. Self-esteem is reflected in the leaves of the tree.”
DECEMBER 2013 35
CULTURE
She is half Colombian, half Venezuelan. She moved to Luanda five years ago, where she teaches Spanish at the international school. Corredor told Universo that as an artist, she found her true inspiration when she came to Angola due to its “creative energy”. “The faces in the circles on my Palanca represent the values of tolerance, biodiversity, peace, self-esteem and unity. I incorporated lighter-skinned and dark-skinned faces because the various races in Angola are all Palanca, all one. They can make these values grow together. “The Palanca itself represents freedom, wilderness, roots, strength, protection and determination. In my Palanca, I review these issues through the elements earth, water, air and fire.”
Shiri Paamony Eshel
Carolina Corredor (39)
Renato Elias Fialho (36) “The Palanca Negra Gigante symbolises Angola and the Angolan people. The animal has characteristics that make Angolans proud; it is imposing, beautiful and sensitive. But above all it is an animal that should receive the praise and respect it deserves. My Palanca symbolises simplicity and natural beauty. I used white lines in contrast to its original black colour, plus silver and gold to symbolise its value and importance.”
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Ben Dov’s personal Palanca model has one golden and one black side. “The black side is the more accurate, vivid and intimate side of the animal. The golden side is the proud side; it refers to what you want to reflect as a human and the Palanca’s dominance. “The Palanca is a legendary animal in Angola. But above all it is a national symbol, a cultural image. It’s almost imaginary, magic. We don’t see it, because it is so rare. “Each Palanca has a different, unique appearance. That enormous variety is what I want to emphasise as an artist. The same goes for Angolans themselves. The diversity of humankind – of people’s appearances – in Angola is the richest I have seen, ever. I’m deeply impressed by Angola.”
Shiri Paamony Eshel
Shiri Paamony Eshel
Yoav Ben Dov (46)
CULTURE
Horácia Fernando Nunda (16)
Shiri Paamony Eshel
Shiri Paamony Eshel
She, like Miguel Kidi, has lived in Mulemba orphanage in Luanda from almost the day she was born. She showed signs of being creative at the tender age of five, which prompted her carers to arrange an art teacher for her. “I used the colours white, green, red and blue. White symbolises peace, green symbolises hope, red symbolizes love and caring for the Palanca. I used blue to paint water. I painted a baobab tree with two views inside it. One view shows the Palanca, the second one a cart. The baobab tree has a face that is crying. Below it, you see the river Kwanza and a garden. “I want to inspire other youngsters of all backgrounds to become creative. The Art and Culture Foundation gave us a lot of publicity and visibility, more than I have ever had at an exhibition. I am very thankful for that.”
DECEMBER 2013 37
Sonangol news briefing
New Sonangol board named Angola’s Economy Minister Abrahão Gourgel named a new Sonangol EP board on October 2. Francisco de Lemos José Maria continues as board president, while Anabela Soares de Brito da Fonseca has been designated administrator for International Assets and Investments. Ana Joaquina Van-Dúnem Alves da Costa takes charge of the areas of Refining, Natural Gas, Energy Generation and Petrochemicals. Fernandes Gaspar Bernardo Mateus has been appointed chief financial officer and is in charge of Corporate Development. Fernando Joaquim Roberto will be responsible for Development of Human Capital, Knowledge and Social Insurance, while Mateus Sebastião Francisco Neto will administer the areas of Downstream, Industrial Development and Local Content. Paulino Fernando Carvalho Jerónimo will oversee Exploration and Hydrocarbons Production. Minister Gourgel said he hoped that with the help of the new board, Sonangol would continue to deliver the same good results it has done to date.
Kamene M Traça
■
38 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
Sonangol news briefing
Angola’s oil minister gets SPE prize Engineers (SPE) has presented Minister of Petroleum José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos (on the far right) with the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award 2013 for his support for the SPE and the oil and gas industry in Angola. The chairman of SPE, Egbert Imomoh, announced the award during the society’s annual conference in New Orleans at the end of September. Minister Botelho de Vasconcelos has been oil minister since 2008, a post he previously held from 1999 to 2002. He was named president of the OPEC for 2009.
New concession tenders
Gary Barchfeld / Tim Fulton
■ The Society of Petroleum
LNG expansion
round of exploration block tenders at the end of 2013 and in 2014. The blocks will be located in the Kwanza and Lower Congo Basins, the company announced on September 30. Bids will be opened for a total of 10 blocks, all onshore: seven in the Kwanza Basin and three in the Lower Congo Basin.
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■ Sonangol plans to launch a new
■ Sonangol plans to expand operations at the $10 billion liquefied natural gas
plant, Angola LNG, which started exports this year. “If there are enough resources, and we believe there are, we will expand the 5.5 million tonne unit we have in the north of the country,” said board president Francisco de Lemos José Maria. Chevron operates the project and has a 36.4 per cent shareholding. Sonangol holds a 22.8 per cent stake, while Total, BP and ENI each have 13.6 per cent.
DECEMBER 2013 39
Sonangol news briefing
China office plans ■ Sonangol is to open a trading office
in China, adding to its operations in London, Houston and Singapore, board president Francisco de Lemos José Maria announced on October 22. Neither the date for the opening nor the location within China has yet been revealed. China is currently Angola’s largest individual client for its crude oil.
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Angola sets oil target of 2mbpd
1.75 million bpd currently. According to Minister of Petroleum José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, the aim is to reach the target in 2015. Sonangol board president Francisco de Lemos José Maria said in October that once the 2015 target is reached, the goal will be to sustain that level “for at least 10 years.” “We are about to approve oil projects to develop 3 billion barrels in the next few months,” he added.
40 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
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■ Angola is seeking to raise oil output to 2 million barrels per day (bpd) from around
Sonangol news briefing
Belgian trade delegation visit ■ A high-level Belgium trade mission
led by Princess Astrid was received by Francisco de Lemos José Maria, Sonangol EP’s board president, in October. He told the group about Sonangol’s subsidiaries, projects under way and those planned, as well as informing them of the company’s production figures. Several Belgian ministers accompanied Princess Astrid, including Foreign Minister Didier Reynders and Economy Minister, Kris Peeters. Belgian businesspeople also visited Sonangol HQ and discussed possible future cooperation in the oil and gas sectors.
Sonangol launches literature prize ■ Sonangol launched its Grand
Prize for Literature competition on November 14 at the offices of the Angolan Writers’ Union. The prize will be awarded on February 25, 2016 during Sonangol’s 40th anniversary celebrations. In the past, the contest has attracted entries from Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Sao Tome and Principe and Guinea-Bissau.
Sonangol shares experience with Mozambique
■ Sonangol EP board member Anabela Fonseca assured Mozambique’s Prime
Minister Alberto Vaquina during his November visit to Angola that the company is completely open to sharing its knowledge and experience of the oil and gas sector. Anabela Fonseca, accompanied by executive board members, said Prime Minister Vaquina’s delegation showed a great interest in knowing more about how Sonangol had developed over the past 37 years.
DECEMBER 2013 41
Eduardo Grilo /FOTOS ENG
Sonangol intelligence
42 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
Sonangol intelligence
SECURING ANGOLA’S
FUTURE How Angola may develop its oil wealth and economy over the long term is outlined in presidential special advisor Engineer Albina Assis’ book
S
ustainable Development of Angolan Oil (Gestão Sustentável do Petróleo Angolano), as its cover subtitle indicates, is a comparative study of Angola and Norway. The theme of the book is the subject of Albina Assis’ master’s degree dissertation. The two countries produce similar oil types, hold considerable offshore reserves and use the services of both home-grown and foreign operating companies to tap their fields. Albina Assis outlines some of the steps Norway has taken to transform its finite hydrocarbons wealth into not only a sustainable economy, but also a society with one of the highest standards of living in the world. She believes Angola could learn something from Norway’s manifestly successful oil sector strategies. Today, Norway has the fourth largest per capita income in the world and, since 2009, the highest rank in the UN’s Human Development Index.
“In 30 years it passed from being a country of fishermen to one of the most prosperous nations in the world at the economic, social and environmental level,” Assis writes. Citing a UN report from 2005, Assis shows Norway’s life expectancy was 79.4 years, compared with Angola’s 40.8 years, just over half the average Norwegian lifespan! Differences in GDP per capita were even more startling: Norway’s figure is $37,670 and Angola’s just $2,344. The conditions for development of the oil industries in the two countries were unsurprisingly very different given their respective starting points. Norway, nested in prosperous Northern Europe, already enjoyed high levels of literacy. In contrast, Angola, although it has made significant improvements, still suffers from having to rely on a much smaller pool of trained personnel. Much of this may be attributed to the disruption caused by
30 years of civil war (which only ended in 2002) and the high illiteracy rates dating back to before Angola’s independence. In her study, the author shows that key to Norway’s success was its adoption of an exemplary system that ensured economic sustainability. She believes it would be helpful for a detailed Angolan study to be made based on Norway’s experience, so that Angola might create a model adapted to its own reality. According to Assis, Norway understood how to apply its riches in creating infrastructure, diversify its economy and increase its citizens’ quality of living. Norway also reserved part of its oil revenues to benefit future generations and famously created what is today the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund (SWF). The idea originally behind the fund was to store wealth that the country could use when volatile oil prices dropped. This smooths out the dips in the economy.
DECEMBER 2013 43
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Sonangol intelligence
In her study, Assis shows that key to Norway’s success was its adoption of an exemplary system that ensured economic sustainability Investing for the future
44 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
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Norway’s SWF had accumulated over $750 billion by September 2013. Norway invests much of its funds in stocks and shares, but it actively assesses the ethics of the companies contemplated. This means that the companies’ actions must not negatively affect other people’s well-being. Thus the fund excludes arms makers, the tobacco industry, exploitative labour practices - for example, employing children - and industries with with environmental impacts.
The fund judiciously invests in sustainable development. Assis’ interest is in improving Angolans’ everyday life by managing the country’s oil wealth well. Part of the dedication of the book is to “All those in the whole world who fight against poverty and social inequality,” and this goal underlies and illuminates her quest. Assis completed her study in 2007. Universo has been pleased to report that in recent years the Angolan government has followed some of the precepts involved in the Norwegian model of sustainable development, such as massive investment in infrastructure and providing support for economic diversification. This is particularly evident in state backing for industrial and rural redevelopment. A further element that Angola adopted, in line with the Norwegian model, was the establishment of an SWF. Angola officially started its SWF in 2012 with an initial deposit of $5 billion. Assis told Universo she applauds Angola’s SWF initiative. “It constitutes an
important instrument for the sustainable management of Angolan oil, because through this, it will allow Angola to obtain financial reserves that will serve as a support to current and future generations.” Angola’s SWF, in her view, is of paramount importance. “This SWF, created after my dissertation, will give answers to many of the preoccupations I addressed,” she said. “It will be a catalysing element for the economic development now under way.” Assis also believes Angola should make a detailed study regarding the size of its exploration concession blocks. She points out that they are currently 5,000 sq km, some 10 times larger than their Norwegian equivalent. If Angola were to adopt the idea of smaller Norwegian blocks, this would have obvious economic benefits.
Sonangol intelligence Angola’s stand at South Korea Expo 2012
The author says that in-depth knowledge of the geological qualities of the blocks would be needed before such a change could be considered. She also acknowledges one argument in favour of smaller blocks: Angola’s offshore environment is markedly more benign than that of the North Sea. Albina Assis’ book focuses on Norway’s oil industry as a benchmark for successful development. There are many countries rich in oil resources in the world, but few have guaranteed all their people a decent share in their wealth; on the contrary, oil has often led to the impoverishment of the majority. Taking a leaf out of Norway’s oil resource management book could mean a better life for all Angolans.
Angola on show Albina Assis continues as a non-executive member of Sonangol’s board, but her most high-profile role in recent years has been as head of the commission in charge of Angola’s participations in international exhibitions. So far she has clocked up
four of these: Japan (Aichi 2005), Spain (Zaragoza 2008), China (Shanghai 2010) and South Korea (Yeosu 2012). “What I’ve learnt is something that has always fascinated me: the evolving and natural process of daily learning, with the close contact of different cultures, habits and traditions. It’s in spite of the task being exhausting, it is very gratifying at the same time.” The most rewarding aspect of the exhibitions, she said, was “Seeing the final work – the fruit of arduous months and years of working in a team – completed, appreciated and also recognised by thousands of visitors and the Angolan and foreign communications media.” Assis believes the expos have been an important vehicle of information and positioning of Angola in Africa and in the world. “They have allowed the showing of a new Angola that is increasingly affirming itself in the context of nations as a stable country engaged in sustainable development and a focus for maintaining and ensuring peace in Angola and internationally.” p
Albina Faria de Assis Pereira Africano has been Special Advisor for Regional Affairs to President dos Santos since 2005. She is also a Sonangol non-executive board member. Born in downtown Luanda in June 1945, she started her career as a schoolteacher (1968–75). She is married to Dr José Pereira and has four children. Albina Assis is an illustrious figure in Angola’s oil sector. She was director at the National Laboratory for Chemical Analysis (1975–83) and worked as a chemical engineer at Fina-Angola in Luanda for two years before rising to to the position of deputy director of the Fina Refinery, Luanda (1985–91). Assis became the first female president of the Sonangol board (1991–92) and then Angola’s first female minister: Minister of Petroleum (1992-1999) then Minister of Industry (1999–2000). Assis’s education includes the Industrial Institute, Luanda, in 1967. Her first degree was in Chemical Engineering at Agostinho Neto University, Luanda (1979–82). She studied Oil Refining Technology at Antwerp, Belgium (1984), and also attended the French Institute of Petroleum Science (1987). She trained at the Lindsey oil refinery (1988) and also attended the College of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Oxford (1989), both in the UK.
Eduardo Grilo /FOTOS ENG
Eduardo Grilo /FOTOS ENG
Albina Assis – a life in oil
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ANGOLA
OIL GAS ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY Angola aims to sharply increase oil output in the short term. In order to do this, it needs to get the best out of its existing fields as well as develop new ones. Sonangol oil engineer Geraldo AndrĂŠ Raposo Ramos looks at the first of these strategies
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Sonangol intelligence
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il and gas production is declining in Angola’s old fields and, according to one of Sonangol EP’s strategic orientations, the country needs to stabilise potential capacity and increase oil production as more fields come into production and others are slated for abandonment. In other words, Angola must improve maintenance of oil and gas production and maximise value from the downstream and services. Engineer Ramos believes that, while Angola is in the very happy position of being on course to reach oil output of 2 million bpd (barrels per day) in 2015, there are a number of major challenges and opportunities it must face. These include Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), marginal and mature field development, ultra-deepwater and pre-salt development, high rates of CO2 and H2S (50%–70%), highpressure and high-temperature fields, asset management integrity, oil and gas shale, zero discharges, zero flaring and, lastly, an integrated strategy for field abandonment.
In this first extract from Engineer Ramos’ article, the author examines the use of EOR and the development of marginal and mature fields. To stabilise and increase production requires the use of different techniques for reservoir or field management. It also requires techniques to recover the neglected oil or gas that was not extracted by primary or secondary recovery. To meet these demands necessary improvements include: increasing the number of yards, increasing existing yards’ capabilities, development of a research and development centre, more laboratories and specialists, surface facility optimisation and the development of an asset quality management programme as well as new tax incentives.
Enhanced Oil Recovery It is important to remember that there are three stages of oil field development. Primary Oil Recovery – also known as natural flow or the pressure depletion method: Pressure is generated from gas
present in the oil and and this forces the oil out. This type of recovery provides access to only a small fraction of a reservoir’s total oil capacity. Secondary Oil Recovery – also known as the waterflooding method: The reservoir is subjected to waterflooding or gas injection to maintain a pressure that continues to move oil to the surface. This technique can increase productivity to one-third or more of total oil capacity. Tertiary Oil Recovery – also known as Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR): The fluid is injected (generally fluid alien to the reservoir) to reduce viscosity and improve flow. This technique may enable production of more than 50% of a reservoir’s original oil content, depending on the reservoir, the type of oil and the EOR process applied. The first two methods are widely used in Angola. However, there is a need to begin thinking about implementation of tertiary recovery since many fields are becoming less economical through primary and secondary recovery.
Angola must improve maintenance of oil and gas production and maximise value from the downstream and services 48 SONANGOL UNIVERSO
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EOR is a collection of general methods, each with its own capability to extract the most oil from a particular reservoir. EOR techniques are based on one or more principles: (1) increasing the capillary number by reducing oil–water interfacial tension; (2) reducing the mobility ratio by increasing water viscosity or reducing oil viscosity; (3) reducing water permeability; (4) all of the above compared to the waterflood values. According to these principles, EOR can be divided into three major types of technique: thermal, nonthermal and other EOR techniques. Thermal EOR methods have been widely used for the displacement of heavy oils, whereas non-thermal, chemical and gas EOR methods have been employed for light oil. Thermal recovery refers to techniques where heat plays the principal role. Since higher temperatures are used especially for viscous crudes, these techniques are normally applied to heavy crude, where the mobility ratio is reduced by decreasing oil viscosity. The main thermal EOR techniques are the following: steam flooding, cyclic steam stimulation, in-situ combustion, hot water flooding and steam-assisted gravity drainage.
Non-thermal EOR recovery is divided into a gas EOR process and a chemical process. The gas EOR process, also called solvent flooding, miscible gas flooding or simple gas flooding, increases the capillary number process where injectant can be dry gas, enriched gas, CO2, nitrogen, flue gas or a combination of these. Chemical EOR processes are designed to increase these capillary number processes (micellarpolymer, caustic or alkaline) or mobility ratio processes (polymer) by injecting one or more chemicals into a reservoir to improve the recovery efficiency. Over the years, a number of new EOR methods have been developed, including carbonate waterflood, microbial and electromagnetic heating. These methods require additional development before such applications become common. The application of each EOR method depends on reservoir temperature, pressure, depth, net pay, permeability, residual oil and water saturations, porosity and fluid properties such as oil API gravity and viscosity. EOR methods can extract 30–60 per cent or more of the reservoir’s original oil compared with 20–40 per cent of primary and secondary recovery.
Among all the EOR methods, the gas recovery (CO2, nitrogen, natural gas) method is the most commonly used. Nitrogen is usually cheaper than CO2 or hydrocarbon-derived gas for displacement in EOR and has the additional advantage of being non-corrosive. Angola could install a plant facility to manufacture liquid nitrogen. The only limitation is power availability since the raw material is air. However, environmental caution must be taken into account since a liquid nitrogen plant produces liquid oxygen and other rare gases found in the air. Fields like Raia, Morsa West, Sulele Norte and Cavala (Block 2), Quinquila-PC1 (FS), Quinfuquena Sul and Pambo (FST) and Banzala (Block 0) are a few examples of potential fields for EOR application. There may be many others not yet identified where Angola may recover neglected oil that secondary recovery failed to extract. However, further study is necessary to define the costs involved in these projects and to identify the best sites to invest resources. Hence, investigating the best EOR methods that fit the type of reservoir in Angola is a worthy challenge to facilitate
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Sonangol intelligence recovery of neglected oil when considering economic benefits and environmental impacts. To accomplish this, challenges include identifying new approaches and technical abilities, more precise technology, good reservoir management and understanding of subsurface architecture and how to extend the life of platforms an additional 10 or 15 years.
Methodology applying EOR techniques The selection of a specific process aimed at enhancing oil recovery must be made only after detailed investigations of: oil reservoir data (especially residual oil saturation), laboratory tests, screening criteria, field piloting, and simplified and detailed reservoir simulation models.
Oil recovery factor The oil reserves obtained as a result of EOR methods in addition to primary or secondary recovery may be expressed as the percentage of original oil in place (OOIP). The amount of additional oil reserves obtained by EOR methods can be estimated knowing the recovery potential of the reservoir. This is defined by the reservoir’s characteristics and mechanism. The ultimate oil recovery factor of individual reservoirs under primary and/ or secondary recovery methods may range from 5% of OOIP for the poorest reservoir characteristics or for viscous oil to as high as 55% or 60% of OOIP for the best reservoir characteristics of light oil. Comparisons of several methods and potential outcomes may be made using the average of the ultimate oil recovery “ERFinal”, expressed as per cent of OOIP, by the respective recovery mechanism, and are classified as follows: 5%–10% Tight oil reservoirs, slightly fractured or heavy oil reservoirs 10%–25% Oil reservoirs produced mainly by solution gas drive 25%–40% Oil reservoirs producing under partial water drive, gas injection or gravity drainage 40%–55% Oil reservoirs produced by conventional waterflood
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Marginal field development A marginal field refers to an oil field that may not generally produce enough net income to make it worth developing at a given time. The general definition is a field with less than 30 million barrels of oil or oil equivalent with a 20%–30% recovery factor. A field may become commercial if the technical or economic condition changes. Marginal fields are usually associated with small pockets of hydrocarbons that sustain a plateau for a few years. The main parameters affecting the marginal fields are the environmental impact, political stability, access, remoteness and the price stability of the produced gas and liquids. Development of these fields requires special tax incentives (tax, capital allowances) and special procurement arrangements. Studies could be performed in marginal fields in Angola to identify production and reservoir characteristics of marginal fields, as well as identify underperforming wells or field areas, recommend appropriate intervention and investigate the unconventional and new technologies to apply in the marginal fields.
Mature field development A mature field is defined as an oil or gas accumulation that has matured to a production plateau or even progressed to a stage of declining production. Mature fields account for over 70% of the world’s oil and gas production, with many in secondary or tertiary production phases. The average recovery factor for mature fields is 70% for gas and 35% for oil. However, a small recovery factor is common due to geological characteristics, resource constraints and operational inefficiencies from old technology. Operators face challenges while producing in mature fields. There is pressure to improve returns from their assets and mitigate the decline of new field discovery. Sonangol EP and operating companies need to find techniques to extend the economic production life of the field using costeffective and low-risk technologies. Secondary techniques dominate mature field production, primarily EOR. The advanced petrochemical techniques
can be used to assist declining wells with skin damage or other issues to help sustain production. An additional option is support of the drive mechanism through water injection wells, which helps push the hydrocarbons and sustain production. Recovery may also be increased by drilling multilaterals to improve reservoir drainage or injecting steam, CO2 or microbial EOR.
Recommendations Most of the fields in Angola mature (reach the plateau) within four years and require extensive reservoir understanding. The most cost-effective management and approach to obtain maximum recovery and maintain well integrity will require the combined efforts of operators, service companies and Sonangol EP. Sonangol and its partners need to manage the risk when using new technology in mature fields. They must develop partnerships to maximise production in mature fields, improve recovery rates and optimise operational efficiencies. Developing the roadmap to revive mature fields will require learning lessons from the mature field specialists in Angola as well as worldwide. p
Sonangol EP and operating companies need to find techniques to extend the economic production life of the field
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Geraldo Ramos – an outstanding career Cabinda-born Geraldo André Raposo Ramos holds an MSc in Petroleum Engineering. He is a specialist in Reservoir Engineering. He attended the University of Tulsa. His MSc thesis was on “Dewatering Hunton Reservoir: Optimizing Reservoir Performance”. He also holds bachelor degrees in Petroleum Engineering and in Mathematics. Ramos received accolades for his outstanding academic achievement 2005–07, especially in the United States. They include the Thomas C. Frick Award for Outstanding Academic Achievement in
Petroleum Engineering of University of Tulsa and the Ralph W. Veatch Award in Mathematics from the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences Honors and Award Program of University of Tulsa in April 2005. Since January 2008, Ramos has worked as a production engineer for Sonangol in Luanda, where he monitors key operational activities to ensure stability of production of oil, gas and LPG and to improve the efficiency and safety of facilities; he also analyses bids for maintenance and production tasks.
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Sonangol wishes a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year to all its employees, partners, customers, suppliers and friends.