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Sunday, November 27, 2016
Sonangol, Angola’s state oil company, is taking a page out of Nigeria’s state-run NNPC’s playbook by deferring payments to foreign operators. Sonangol has accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars in debt and deferred payments to oil majors and contractors while it attempts to reform its operations.
A Reuters report said contractors operating in the country have been waiting months for even small payments from the state-run firm. The delays follow the government’s launch of a restructuring of the petroleum sector and the appointment of Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos’ daughter, Isobel dos Santos, to head the firm. The Sonangol chief has been trying to root out corruption at the firm and has halted all payments.
Contractors and sources close to Sonangol said it is months behind in payments to nearly every entity it works with, from cash calls worth hundreds of millions and smaller payments of hundreds of thousands. “They haven’t paid us, but we are talking to them,” Reuters cited a source as saying. “They’re trying to make reforms but there is a cash flow problem.”
Reports have Sonangol asking for a moratorium on other debts until the end of the year.
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