Angola’s Sonangol leaves Venezuela and Iraq due to the risks in both regions

Sonangol decided to leave Venezuela and Iraq due to the risks in those regions, announced today by the chairman of the board of directors of the Angolan state oil company.

According to Gaspar Martins, Sonangol is evaluating the assets and, as a result, made the decision to leave and in what terms will be passed its presence.

Gaspar Martins stressed that besides the risk issue, there are currently difficulties in logistics to get equipment and materials to work in that area.

“As a result of what happened, we decided that we will leave, and whatever we have to be reimbursed for, we will be reimbursed for,” he said.

“We took a good look at the current situation, despite our interest in being there at the time. Today, redefining the strategy that will probably happen, which we have already made known to the two entities, particularly Venezuela, is that we will leave, and also from Iraq after completing the whole process that leads to a part of the investment made being reimbursed,” he said.

According to a June edition of last year’s Expansão newspaper, Sonangol halted production of 30,000 barrels per day at the Qaiyarah Field in northern Iraq four months ago due to the impact of covid-19.

The state oil company has two oil fields in Iraq, Naima, and Qaaiyarah, the latter being the only field in producing condition.

In the Najmah field, the process of demining and recovering the wells was underway.

According to Expansão, when operations were shut down four months ago due to the pandemic, the state oil company produced 30,000 barrels daily in Qaiyarah.

However, the current recommendation of the NOC (North Oil Company), the Iranian state oil company, is that Sonangol’s production should not exceed 25,000 barrels daily when operations reopen.

In Venezuela, the concessions in which Sonangol is involved are operated by an association in which Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and Union Cuba-Petróleo (Cupet), which leads the consortium, also participate.

With information from Sapo

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