Angolan billions for Statoil

The investments of the Norwegian oil company Statoil in Angola are beginning to pay off handsomely. At the same time the company is coming under increased scrutiny by international NGOs.

According to Statoil:
* Their oil production in Angola in 2005 was 70000 barrels per day, with new fields being opened up this year.
* Statoil payed 1,54 billion Norwegian kroner (NOK) in tax to the Angolan government last year, of an income of NOK 8,8 billion.

Last year Statoil was criticized for not publishing the value of the profit oil that goes to the host country. In the annual report published recently the company revealed that the “value of the petroleum kept by the host country is calculated to be NOK 2,7 billion for 2005 for the three countries Algeria, Azerbeijan and Angola.

Shortly a Norwegian co-ordinator of the international transparency organisation Publish What You Pay will be employed. This will increase the pressure on local firms to come clean on their involvement in oil projects.

Next week The Centre for Democracy and Development (Nigeria), together with Future in our hands and the Norwegian Council for Africa will present the findings and recommendations of their new report on Statoil in Nigeria.

by Jan Speed

Comments

[Catherine Baird]

I've just recently discovered your blog and have been enjoying reading. I'm part of a non-profit organization called 'Librarians Without Borders' and we're working on helping to build a collection of books for a library in Huambo, Angola. I hadn't seen a picture of the old library in Huambo so I particularly enjoyed looking at the images in 'Huambo- from war to peace'. I'll be checking for more updates!