By Ajong Mbapndah L
Angola’s energy establishment turned out in force in Luanda on September 2 for the launch of NJ Ayuk’s latest book, Crude Oil: Power, Turnaround and Transformation in Angola, bringing together some of the figures at the heart of the country’s evolving oil and gas story.
Held at the InterContinental Luanda Miramar, the launch went beyond the unveiling of another energy publication. It became a high-level reflection on how Angola has reshaped its petroleum sector through institutional reform, stronger investor confidence, local content and a renewed drive to convert oil wealth into broader economic value.
The book, written by African Energy Chamber Executive Chairman NJ Ayuk, examines the policy decisions, leadership choices and institutional changes behind Angola’s energy turnaround. It also considers what other resource-rich African countries can learn from a transformation that has repositioned Angola as a major destination for energy investment.
Among the prominent industry figures supporting the launch were Sonangol Group Chairman and CEO Sebastião Gaspar Martins, African Energy Chamber Executive President Sergio Pugliese and Dr. Adilson Mangueira Nelumba, CEO of COPIA Group Companies. Their presence gave the evening particular weight, bringing together leaders directly involved in the reforms, investments and business decisions explored in the book.
Angola’s Turnaround Story
For Ayuk, Angola offers a powerful counterpoint to the negative narratives that frequently dominate discussions about Africa’s petroleum industry. “Most of the time when we talk about the oil industry in Africa, it’s bad news,” Ayuk told guests at the launch. “Angola has had a turnaround story. Angolans wrote that history – it’s Angolan ingenuity at its best.”
That turnaround forms the central argument of Crude Oil: Power, Turnaround and Transformation in Angola. Rather than crediting geology alone for Angola’s position in the global energy industry, Ayuk examines how leadership, regulatory changes, institutional reforms and investment-friendly policies helped the country confront challenges that had threatened the competitiveness of its petroleum sector.
Central to that story is the creation of the National Oil, Gas and Biofuels Agency, ANPG, and the transfer of Angola’s petroleum concessionaire responsibilities away from Sonangol. Ayuk described the creation of ANPG as one of the most consequential changes in the sector over the past decade, linking the success of such reforms directly to political and institutional leadership. “The only model of success for reform and transformation is leadership,” he said.
Sonangol’s Transformation
Gaspar Martins offered an insider’s perspective on what those reforms have meant for Sonangol and the wider Angolan petroleum industry. He described the transfer of the concessionaire function to ANPG as “far more than an institutional reorganization,” arguing that it fundamentally changed Sonangol’s role within the sector.
The reform allowed Sonangol to move progressively away from an organization combining state responsibilities with commercial operations towards a company increasingly focused on investment, competition, innovation, operations and value creation. For Angola, that separation has become one of the defining features of the broader restructuring of its petroleum industry.
Martins also made clear that Angola’s transformation cannot be judged simply by how much oil the country produces. “Natural resources by themselves do not transform a nation. It is the institutions, the people, the decisions, and the capacity to convert those resources into value that truly transform a country,” he said.
That message mirrors one of the book’s central themes. Angola’s oil and gas reserves may provide the foundation, but the ultimate test is whether those resources can generate investment, infrastructure, skills, employment and sustainable economic opportunities for the country.
For Martins, production must therefore be viewed as the beginning of the development process rather than its final objective. “Production is the starting point, not the destination. We understand that real value begins when we manage to transform a produced barrel into investment, infrastructure, industry, knowledge, employment, and opportunities,” he said.
Building Angolan Energy Champions
The discussion also placed local content firmly at the center of Angola’s next phase of energy development. Martins argued that local content should not be reduced to replacing international contractors with domestic companies, but should instead build businesses with the expertise, technology and standards required to compete internationally.
“For us, local content cannot simply mean replacing a foreign company with an Angolan company. It must mean creating competitive Angolan companies capable of providing services in Angola today and competing across Africa tomorrow,” Martins said.
Dr. Adilson Mangueira Nelumba brought the private-sector perspective to that conversation, pointing to the gradual expansion of Angolan participation since the introduction of the country’s local-content framework. “After the enactment of Law 271/20, local content in Angola – though timidly – grew to between 12% and 15% that already works directly with operators or International Oil Companies,” Nelumba said.
While progress has been made, Nelumba suggested that implementation will determine how far Angola can take its local-content ambitions. “The Government has drawn up the plan; now it is up to us to execute it,” he said, placing greater responsibility on domestic companies to seize the opportunities being created.
The message reflects a wider shift underway in Angola. The conversation is increasingly moving beyond attracting international capital towards ensuring that Angolan companies, workers and entrepreneurs capture a greater share of the opportunities generated by investment in oil, gas and associated services.
Reforms Restore Investor Confidence
For Sergio Pugliese, the changes implemented by Angola have produced tangible results in investor sentiment and industry activity. “These have been reforms that have transformed our oil and gas industry, and attracted both confidence and investment into our industry,” he said.
That confidence is especially important as Angola seeks to sustain production, accelerate exploration and move major projects into development. The country remains one of Africa’s most significant petroleum producers and continues to court international and domestic investment across its energy value chain.
The launch comes against a backdrop of renewed activity in the sector. The $5.1 billion Greater PAJ project reached final investment decision in June, while Chevron announced a significant oil and gas condensate discovery offshore Block 0 in August. National oil production has meanwhile remained around the one-million-barrel-per-day mark through 2026.
Those developments give Ayuk’s book particular relevance. It is not documenting a transformation that has already run its course, but examining a reform process that continues to shape investment decisions, institutional priorities and the future direction of Angola’s energy industry.
Angola as an African Case Study
Although firmly centered on Angola, Crude Oil: Power, Turnaround and Transformation in Angola carries a broader African message. Ayuk argues that resource-rich countries cannot rely indefinitely on geology to attract capital, particularly as competition for global energy investment intensifies.
Investors also look for predictable regulation, competitive fiscal terms, functioning institutions and political leadership capable of responding to changing market realities. Angola’s experience is presented not as a blueprint every African producer should copy, but as evidence that governments can change the trajectory of struggling sectors when they are prepared to reform institutions and address obstacles to investment.
The book is the result of an 18-month research effort involving extensive engagement with policymakers, regulators, executives and industry stakeholders. Ayuk has described himself not as an expert on Angola, but as a student of a country whose complex history and energy transformation deserve closer examination.
That approach gives the book an unusual perspective, combining advocacy for Africa’s right to develop its petroleum resources with a detailed examination of the policy choices required to make those resources economically meaningful. It also places Angola’s experience within the wider debate over how African countries can use their natural resources to finance industrialization and long-term development.
From Barrels to Broader Prosperity
Perhaps the strongest message emerging from the Luanda launch was that Angola’s next energy chapter will not be measured by barrels alone. The bigger question is how petroleum production can translate into stronger domestic industries, competitive companies, employment, skills and opportunities for a new generation of Angolans.
The challenge is increasingly about what happens after the oil is produced: how much investment remains in the domestic economy, how many Angolans acquire high-value skills, how competitive local companies become and how effectively petroleum revenues support infrastructure, diversification and industrialization.
In that sense, the gathering at the InterContinental Luanda Miramar was more than a celebration of NJ Ayuk’s latest book. It brought together figures who have participated in Angola’s changing energy landscape to reflect on the reforms already made and the work still required to translate the country’s petroleum wealth into broader prosperity.
Angola still faces challenges familiar to petroleum-producing economies, from sustaining mature-field output and attracting exploration capital to accelerating diversification and ensuring that resource wealth delivers benefits beyond the oil industry. Yet the argument running through Crude Oil: Power, Turnaround and Transformation in Angola is that the country has demonstrated something important: decline is not inevitable, institutions matter and investor confidence can be rebuilt.
For Ayuk, Angola’s turnaround ultimately belongs to Angolans themselves, shaped by leadership, difficult reforms and the willingness to change course when circumstances demanded it. For an African energy sector too often discussed through the language of crisis, missed opportunities and unrealized potential, that may be one of the most important lessons emerging from Luanda.
