INTERNATIONAL
Confusion persists over who masterminded the Guinea-Bissau coup. A shadowy self-styled “Military Command” said it acted to head off what it alleged was a secret pact between Gomes Junior and Angola to “annihilate Guinea-Bissau’s armed forces”. Angola had been providing military trainers and advisers to the smaller state in a military cooperation mission. But it announced earlier this month that it was ending the mission (Reuters).
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BUSINESS
Sociedade de Construções Soares da Costa has won the contract to design and build housing for Angola LNG personnel (1stphase) in Soyo. The group adds that its affiliate will carry out the project in consortium with the company MSF (Moniz da Maia Serra e Fortunato) and that each company will have a 50% stake (Macauhub).
BANKING & FINANCE
Standard Bank Group Ltd., Africa’s largest lender, won’t rule out acquisitions in Angola as it seeks to become one of the top five banks in the oil-producing country, the head of the bank’s Angolan unit said (Bloomberg).
The Angolan insurance market has maintained sustained and accelerated growth since it was liberalised in 2000, indicates a study by the KPMG consultancy and auditing firm released in Luanda (Macauhub).
HOTELS
At least 84 new hotels were built in Angola between 2008 and 2012 in Angola, totallin 4,780 modern rooms. Until 2008 the country had only 61 hotels, with 2,822 rooms. Angola currently has 145 hotels with 7,602 rooms (ABN).
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LOGISTICS
The Angolan government is studying the establishment of a national shipping company, given the lack of a single national fleet operator dedicated to seagoing traffic, the head of the Merchant Marine Department said (Macauhub).
OIL & GAS
French oil major Total will cut oil supplies at a giant deep oil platform off the coast of Angola for planned works in June, trade sources said. Girassol, which means sunflower in Portuguese, is one of OPEC member Angola’s largest fields and can pump up to 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) (Reuters).
Cobalt International Energy Inc said it “strongly refuted” allegations of wrongdoing after a newspaper reported that three Angolan officials held concealed shares in an oil venture linked to the company (Reuters).
The Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) and an international corporation of Angola signed a US$2.5 billion memorandum of understanding (MoU) which will see the construction of a petroleum pipeline to run from Lobito in Angola to Lusaka (AllAfrica).
Marathon Oil Corp. (MRO) said first production at Block 31 offshore Angola is expected in the second half of this year (Fox Business).