Angola loosens Sonangol’s grip on oil sector
The new leadership in Luanda is pushing ahead with wide-ranging reforms
Angolan president João Lourenço's decision to create a National Oil and Gas Agency (ANPG) to manage and sell oil and gas licenses is intended to underline his commitment to make upstream investments more attractive and curtail the power of state energy leviathan Sonangol. Details have yet to be fleshed out, but what information has been released so far, suggests that after an interim handover period starting in January 2019, Sonangol will aim to have handed over its responsibilities for petroleum agreements, oil block sales and their management to ANPG by the end of 2020. If it proceeds as planned, the move would mark a major step in dismantling state-owned Sonangol's stranglehold over the e
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