Govt of Angola ready to approve new law on local content in oil industry

The government of Angola is set to approve a new local content law, which is intended to regulate local content and to set a framework of clear, feasible and non-bureaucratic procedures to allow effective and increased participation by the domestic industry.

The Minister of State and Chief of Staff Frederico Cardoso said during the opening of 2^nd African Conference on local content in the oil and gas industry that "it was imperative to end the regulatory dispersion on local content in Angola, which is presently covered by nine different laws."

Once the new law is approved, it will provide security and legal commitments to the business operators. Even it will open the door for multiple opportunities in the field of technical, technological, employment and human resource development alongside the further development of the oil and gas industries in Angola, as reported by Macauhub.

Frederico Cardoso further said that the crisis brought about by the fall in the price of oil on the international market made many oil projects unviable and led to a substantial reduction in the activity of many companies supplying services to the oil industry, resulting in massive redundancies in a sector that represents around 35 percent of GDP and over 90 percent of the country's exports.

Hence, to reverse the situation, the government approved a set of macroeconomic and other specific measures on the relations between the State through its agents and the companies operating in the oil sector, in order to correct procedures, eliminate some constraints, improve the business environment and readjust the sector to maintain the profitability of the oil sector in Angola.