Oct 29, 2026 · 24 min · 6 segments
Why is Angola attracting so much investor interest? In our latest episode of Without Compromise, Risk Advisory's Ben Hubert and Huw Charles discuss what is driving this renewed interest. Since João…
And I think, I mean, on the positive side, I mean, that may be a force of continuity that I think whoever comes to power after the elections, the sort of positive impact that Lorenzo's government's had on kind of renewed appetite for oil and gas investment in Angola.
One of the probably the key reform that in the oil and gas sector that Lorenzo's government made was to break up the regulatory and the regulatory functions from Sonengol.
So under Dos Santos, Sonengol was the national oil company, both functioned as a kind of state participant in upstream blocks, but also acted as the regulator and national concessionaire.
this new agency that Lorenzo's government created, ANPG, that has taken on the kind of regulatory and concessionaire functions of Sonengor.
So Sonengor still exists as the state oil company and participates in blocks across the country, but the key regulatory authority for licensing and other matters like that is now ANPG.
Certainly the ANPG has a very positive reputation when it comes to kind of upstream regulators throughout Africa.
I've heard several clients tell us that they are the most open and business friendly regulator going on the continent, and they've certainly done very well to promote themselves.
There are a number of senior figures there who are very, very good sales people for Angola.
And obviously the AMPG chair, Paulino Geronimo, has been a kind of major figure in spearheading the development of the AMPG.
He is obviously a lifetime supporter uh you know angolan civil servant and bureaucrat but but his appointment is is somewhat tied to the learn so government so there are questions i think about whether you know whether there'll be continuity in the key people uh at the ampg and and if there isn't uh and a new leader tries to put in their own people what what impact that that could have in terms of um you know investor attitudes towards the the ampg but also just the effectiveness of the organization
Obviously, we knew historically under José dos Santos, Sonengol was an exceptionally powerful entity.
As we know from some of our previous work, most roads lead in some way to Sonengol, whether that be through its various old subsidiaries and real estate or helicopter leasing.
And I feel like now, Lorenzo, one of the key things he's done is obviously tried to depower Senegal.
He's tried to break up those patronage networks, you know, with the likes of Isabel de Santos and Manolo Vicente.
Could a new president come in? Could they, you know, repower Senegal? Could it end up being one of these, you know, kleptocracy machines again?
And I think, I mean, on the positive side, I mean, that may be a force of continuity that I think whoever comes to power after the elections, the sort of positive impact that Lorenzo's government's had on kind of renewed appetite for oil and gas investment in Angola.
One of the probably the key reform that in the oil and gas sector that Lorenzo's government made was to break up the regulatory and the regulatory functions from Sonengol.
So under Dos Santos, Sonengol was the national oil company, both functioned as a kind of state participant in upstream blocks, but also acted as the regulator and national concessionaire.
this new agency that Lorenzo's government created, ANPG, that has taken on the kind of regulatory and concessionaire functions of Sonengor.
So Sonengor still exists as the state oil company and participates in blocks across the country, but the key regulatory authority for licensing and other matters like that is now ANPG.
Certainly the ANPG has a very positive reputation when it comes to kind of upstream regulators throughout Africa.
I've heard several clients tell us that they are the most open and business friendly regulator going on the continent, and they've certainly done very well to promote themselves.
There are a number of senior figures there who are very, very good sales people for Angola.
And obviously the AMPG chair, Paulino Geronimo, has been a kind of major figure in spearheading the development of the AMPG.
He is obviously a lifetime supporter uh you know angolan civil servant and bureaucrat but but his appointment is is somewhat tied to the learn so government so there are questions i think about whether you know whether there'll be continuity in the key people uh at the ampg and and if there isn't uh and a new leader tries to put in their own people what what impact that that could have in terms of um you know investor attitudes towards the the ampg but also just the effectiveness of the organization
Obviously, we knew historically under José dos Santos, Sonengol was an exceptionally powerful entity.
As we know from some of our previous work, most roads lead in some way to Sonengol, whether that be through its various old subsidiaries and real estate or helicopter leasing.
And I feel like now, Lorenzo, one of the key things he's done is obviously tried to depower Senegal.
He's tried to break up those patronage networks, you know, with the likes of Isabel de Santos and Manolo Vicente.
Could a new president come in? Could they, you know, repower Senegal? Could it end up being one of these, you know, kleptocracy machines again?
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