Universo ANGOLA |OIL BUSINESS - sonangol.co.ao · Universo ANGOLA |OIL BUSINESS | CULTURE ISSUE 15 AUTUMN 2007 SMELLING SWEET: The Rosa field comes on stream SEEING GREEN:the oil

ISSUE 15 AUTUMN 2007

UniversoUniversoANGOLA | O IL | BUS INESS | CULTURE

SMELLING SWEET: The Rosa field comes on stream ■ SEEING GREEN: the oil majors prepareto invest in renewables ■ TASTING GOOD: Namibe’s winemakers raise their glass to successSMELLING SWEET: The Rosa field comes on stream ■ SEEING GREEN: the oil majors prepareto invest in renewables ■ TASTING GOOD: Namibe’s winemakers raise their glass to success

4 SONANGOL UNIVERSO

30. Border CountryHome of the ancient Chokwe king-dom, the Lunda provinces providean intriguing frontier land betweenAngola and the tropical beauty ofthe Congo Basin

36. Angola’s SparklingAssetAt the mention of Angola, the firstword to trip off many tongues isprobably “oil” – but the diamondindustry is now the country’s secondbiggest revenue earner

42. Making MusicAngola’s music defines the nation,enshrining the fibre of its culture, itsaspirations and its dreams – and thatmusic needs its own special instru-ments

46. Passion for theMoving ImageAs one of Angola’s first independentproducers, and a veteran reporter ofthe conflict years, Oscar Gil’s missionis now the development of home-grown TV programmes and filmproduction

50. Wine of theCountryThe Portuguese have a noble tradi-tion of winemaking – but onlyrecently has an enterprising groupchosen to develop the promise ofAngola’s favourable climatic condi-tions in Cunene province

Opening the tapson a new oilfield andsavouring the firstfruits of a new vine-yard could hardly befurther apart –except that they areboth demonstrationsof Angola’s economicregeneration.

The technologicalchallenges involvedwith the extraction of hydrocarbons fromthe Rosa field are spectacular, even whenjudged against the high bar set by Angola’soffshore operators – while at the other endof the country, a small winegrowing enter-prise has opened on the banks of theCunene River – an activity that for protec-tionist reasons was not permitted in colonialtimes. This initiative is especially significantin showing yet another business opportunitynot related to oil, which Angolans canexploit and may, one day, give the country apresence in shops, restaurants and on tablesacross the world.

Thus far in Universo, we have not givenattention to diamonds, Angola’s secondmajor revenue earner, but in this issue, on avisit to Lunda Sul and Lunda Norte, we hopeto add an extra sparkle to our pages, and atthe same time demystify some of the factssurrounding these elusive gems.

Cultural life in Angola has always beenrich, with no shortage of innovative artists,poets and musicians. The moving image onfilm and television is also presenting its chal-lenges to the established media, as we learnfrom one of the country’s seminal producers.

--The Editor

Sonangol Department for Communication & Image Director: João Rosa SantosCorporate Communications Assistants: Cristina de Novaes and Roberto Graça, Marta Sousa, Ana Almeida and José Mota.

This magazine is produced for Sonangol by Impact Media Global Ltd, 53 Chandos Place, London WC2N 4HS, UK, Tel: +44 20 7812 6400~ Fax: +44 20 7812 6413

Publisher: Sheila O’Callaghan; Group President: John Charles Gasser ; Project Consultant: Nathalie MacCarthyEditor: Peter Moeller ; Sub-editor: Ron Gribble; Art Director: Lisa Pampillonia; Advertising Design: Bernd Wojtczack; Circulation Manager: Matthew Alexander

Contributors: Nina Asz, , Jaime Azulay, Lucy Corkin, Cathy Hamlin, Bruce McMichael, André Mukuaxi, Rolf Werndle; Cover Photo: Roy Ooms/MasterfileAll rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

[email protected]

SonangolRua 1° Congresso do MPLA,

N.º 8-16Caixa Postal 1316, Luanda

República de Angola Tel: +244 2 391 182Fax: +244 2 391 782

Telex: 2089 SONANG [email protected]

Sonangol USA (Sonusa)1177 Enclave Parkway

Second Floor Houston, TX 77077

USA Tel: +1 281 920 7600Fax: +1 281 920 7666

[email protected]

Sonangol UKMerevale HouseBrompton Place

London SW3 1QEUnited Kingdom

Tel: +44 207 838 4600Fax: +44 207 589 9454

Telex: 893212 SONANG

Sonangol Asia3 Temasek Avenue

31-04 Centennial TowerSingapore 039190

Tel: : +65 64 16 3583Fax: +65 64 16 3582

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On Stream

8. New Blooms on the BlockGroundbreaking technological feats in Angola’sdeepwater hardly raise eyebrows these days,but the achievements in the Rosa and Daliafields on Block 17 are truly spectacular by anystandards.

12. Building the BestSouth Korea has dominated the world ship-building industry for many years – and one yardstands head and shoulders above its peers forquality and cutting-edge technology

18. Green CredentialsFor oil companies to sponsor renewable energyis like turkeys voting for Christmas but, contraryto popular perceptions, the supermajors areinvesting big money in such projects

22. Life on the Ocean FloorThe ROV has proved an invaluable tool in thedevelopment of Angola’s deep water – but it isalso an invaluable aid for oceanographersexploring the seabed

26. Pulse of ExpansionAlmost all of Angola’s offshore oil productionlies beyond the horizon of shore-basedobservers, but in Luanda the Sonils base offersdramatic evidence of its recent expansion

6 SONANGOL UNIVERSO AUTUMN 2007 7

Dockwise, the European-based specialist offshoreheavy-lift shipping companyhas raised its sunken vesselMighty Servant 3 from watersoff Luanda. The vessel wentdown in 53 metres of water inDecember after safely unload-ing the drilling platformAleutian Key.

Sonangol has been askedby officials at the port ofCabinda in northern Angola tohelp dredge the harbour aftera major influx of silt believedto have washed down fromthe River Congo. Accessrestrictions in Cabinda portmean that larger oceangoing vessels cannot berth.

Vaalco, the US junior,could begin explorationdrilling campaigns late thisyear on their recently awardedshallow-water blocks offshoreAngola. Vaalco is spending$5.1m on a 3D seismic surveyover 1,000sq.km in Block 5.Previous exploration work bySonangol indicates that theblock contains at least 50mproven barrels of oil. Twelveexploration wells have beencompleted – five containingtraces of oil.

Sonangol plans to mergeits crude oil and fuel shippingcompanies into a single sub-sidiary company by 2008.Sonaship Ltd, set up in 1999, iscurrently responsible for ship-ping fuels from the Luandarefinery while SonangolShipping, registered in theUnited States, focuses onworldwide crude oil shipments.

Sonangol and BPrecently announced 14 com-mercial discoveries in theultra-deepwater Block 31. Thelatest two discoveries havebeen named Miranda andCordelia respectively. Bothwells were drilled by the JackRyan drillship, owned by US-drilling giant GlobalSantaFe.

N E W S I N B R I E F

Brazil BidSomoil, the privately owned Angolan oil company, is

taking its exploration expertise to Brazil, having successfullybid for an international tender to gain a 50 per cent stakein block BT-REC-18 in the Reconcavo Basin in the northeastern state of Bahia.

Block operator will be Brazil’s Starfish Oil & Gas, whichalso has a 50 per cent stake. Somoil has been seeking toenter the Brazilian market for more than two years, andalready works with Starfish on projects in Angola’s Block 3and on geological surveys ofthe Kwanza basin.

Calm SolutionSonangol has awarded

Dutch group SBM Offshore thecontract to supply a Calm(Catenary Anchor Leg Mooring)system for the Palanca field off-shore Angola. Typically, Calmbuoys are used in benign, deepwaters and are one of the mostefficient and economical solu-tions for mooring and loadingtankers. Palanca crude oil is pro-duced in Angola with oilssourced from five different con-cessions. It is loaded from theTotal-operated Palanca Terminalwhich can accommodatevery large crude carrier(VLCC) loadings. Thetypical cargo size is985,000 barrels. Thefields pump around140,000 barrels perday from the various contributors.

Dynamic StartDynamic Industries of Louisiana is to build a small fabrication base near Luanda to support its

offshore platform hook-up and commissioning activity. The base will be built by the successful localAngolan company created by Dynamic and Petroservices Offshore Logistics, an international materi-als, logistics and shore base support company.

Dynamic’s senior vice-president Roger Westerlind says: “Angola is an extremely important andrapidly growing market. We believe Dynamic should continue to create the highest level of pres-ence possible, to serve the needs of the upstream and downstream client base.”

Previously, offshore engineering giant Global Industries installed two platforms andassociated pipelines for Dynamic Industries, on behalf of Cabinda Gulf Oil Company(CABGOC), at the Banzala Lago Project.

Roc OnRoc Oil has achieved a positive

result at its Massambala-1 explo-ration well in its Cabinda Southblock. This first exploratory wellhas been spudded after the com-

pletion of a two-year detailed seismicsurvey in the area, and the Australiancompany reports good shows over a

gross interval of 39m with logresponses showing moveablehydrocarbons over a 20m grossinterval within the zone.

Roc has a 60 per cent oper-ating stake in the block, whichlies in the Lower Congo basin. Its

partners are Force Petroleum andSonangol, each with a 20 per cent

share. Based on new geological data, the company estimates the block holds as much as 1.4 bil-lion barrels of oil. Five prospects have been identified for drilling in addition to Massambala: Soja,Cevada, Milho and Trigo – and a sixth is subject to 3D seismic to be shot this year.

Roc boss John Doran says: “because we are at the beginning of a big drilling campaign, it isessential that we try to nail the exact nature of the shallow oil zone at Massambala-1 as soon aspossible because if it proves to be producible, the upside potential is well worth chasing.”

LNG to GoAngola LNG is expected to start exporting the first natural gas products to the

United States in 2010 and 2011, says Sonangol vice president Syanga Abílio. LNGtankers will offload the gas at a specially built facility at Pascagoula, in the Gulf ofMexico.

The US will receive approximately 28.3 million cu.m per year of associated gasfrom offshore oil fields and produce 5 million tonnes per year of LNG andrelated gas liquids products, as well as supply up to 3.5m cu.m per day forAngola’s domestic gas needs. The project will also reduce gas flaring inAngola. Angola LNG has awarded two important contracts at theexport site in Soyo.

A joint venture of Boskalis International and Jan de Nul Dredginghas won the site preparation contract, while engineering and procure-ment will be undertaken by US-based engineering company Bechtel.

Saxi PipelineBelmet, the South African marine

engineering group, has been select-ed by the UK-based contractinggroup Subsea 7 to supply special-ist pipeline equipment for

ExxonMobil’s Saxi-Batuque project.Saxi-Batuque is part of the $3.5bnKizomba C development in Block 15 andwill be served by an FPSO, similar to thenearby Mondo field. Installation will takeplace over an eight-month period during2007. The FPSOs are planned for installa-tion, one on Mondo and one onSaxi/Batuque, with first oil set to come onstream in early 2008. Peak production isestimated at 200,000 barrels per day.

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Groundbreaking technological feats inAngola’s deepwater hardly raiseeyebrows these days, but theachievements in the Rosa and Daliafields in Block 17 are spectacular byany standards.

TTechnical and engineering innovation, a major local contentcontribution and a carefully planned but high-risk operationalstrategy have combined to deliver success for Total in bringingon stream the Dalia and Rosa fields.

Block 17, which hosts 15 discoveries, lies 135km off theAngolan coast in water depths ranging from 1200m – 1500m.The block comprises four major areas which, as part of Total tra-dition in Angola, are named after flowers: Girassol (includingRosa and Jasmim) and Dalia – both in production – and Pazflorand CLOV. Future production from the latter fields will come ontop of the more than 500,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) that willbe pumped from Girassol, Rosa and Dalia.

Its success in overcoming the complex challenges of bringingthe heavy and viscous oil from water depths of 1,400m haveestablished the French oil major’s reputation on a global scale.Dalia came on stream with its own floating production, storageand offloading vessel (FPSO) – one of the world’s largest – inDecember 2006 and six months later, in June 2007 Rosa, which istied back to the Girassol FPSO followed suit.

The Rosa field is just 15km from the Girassol FPSO. It is thefirst deep-water field of this size to be tied back to a remoteinstallation in such water depths and will maintain the FPSO’sproduction plateau at 250,000bpd until early in the next decade.

E X P L O R A T I O N

NewBloomson the Block

NewBloomson the Block

AUTUMN 2007 11

duction bundles (IPB) are 1,650m long, weigh800 tonnes, and have built-in heating and lift-ing capabilities to ensure the oil remains at theright temperature on the way up – all of whichare monitored by a built-in fibre-optic system.

The Dalia FPSO was built by the consor-tium Dalia Mar Profundo, formed by TSS(Technip, Stolt, Saipem), Samsung HeavyIndustries & Daewoo Shipbuilding and MarineEngineering in their yards of Geoje Island,South Korea.

This mini oil treatment facility is 300mlong by 60m wide and 32m tall. It is secured inposition by huge suction anchors and is capa-ble of treating 240,000bpd. The 56,000 tonnehull has a storage capacity of 2 million barrelsof crude oil which is transferred to tankers ofup to 330,000 tonnes at the rate of 40,000 bar-rels per hour.

Up to 190 people can be accommodatedon board the floating city, which has recre-ational areas including a gymnasium, TVrooms, library and other leisure amenities –though only 120 staff are required for normaloperational conditions.

An important feature of the Block 17 Rosaand Dalia project has been the focus on localcontent – the amount of fabrication andassembly carried out within Angola byAngolan technicians. As part if its strategy,Total E&P Angola, working with its Block 17partners and Sonangol, implemented a majorplan to create and redevelop industrial activi-ties within the country for the Dalia contracts,at the same time undertaking the training ofAngolan workers and technology transfer.

Accordingly, new industrial yards, in differ-ent Angolan provinces, have contributed tothe Dalia construction programme and arenow better prepared to land other internation-al oil industry contracts.

In September 2005, the Aker Kvaerner unitwas inaugurated in the Sonils Base, Luanda toundertake projects for Dalia and to receive,prepare, test and repair SPS structures. Just50km north of Luanda, at Dande, a spoolbasewas built by a Technip and Sonangol joint ven-ture to fabricate production and injectionflowlines for the undersea pipeline network.

The Angoflex base operated by Technipwas inaugurated in Lobito, 400km south ofLuanda, in February 2004, to fabricate around36 km of water injection umbilicals and 14 kmof static production umbilicals.

Also in Lobito, Sonamet built the offload-ing buoy and the FPSO suction anchor piles,

and it was here that the final assembly of man-ifolds together with the fabrication of theirfoundation structures and the well productionguide bases was undertaken.

At the other end of the country, in Soyo, atthe mouth of the River Congo the Petromaryard assembled to the flowlines, manifolds,pipe spools and other key structures.

In close association with these projects, anextensive programme for the training ofAngolans was put in place to create a core ofengineers and technicians. In addition, some50 Angolan engineers were trained in Franceand in Angola for their future roles in Daliaoperation.

Every care has been taken to ensure theminimum impact to the environment. A com-plete study of the local ecosystems of theoperations was made, above and below the sealevel, which included the innovative Biozaireprogramme, developed by Total and theFrench Maritime Research Institute, Ifremer.

This initiative was put in hand before anyengineering plans were made, and by studyingthe different ecosystems in the deeps of theGulf of Guinea, it was possible to provide valu-able inputs to the Dalia concept and to createa monitoring system capable of measuringpossible impacts within the site perimeter.

Another feature of the Dalia project whichwill bring major environmental benefits is thatassociated gas is re-injected into the reservoirsfor later export to the Angola LNG plant atSoyo – thus eliminating gas flaring, a majorsource of greenhouse gas emissions. Producedwater from the Girassol, Jasmim and Rosafields is also reinjected to the reservoirs, end-ing discharges to the sea.

In the wake of the successful start-ups ofGirassol, Jasmim, Rosa, and Dalia, there is stillmuch for Total and its partners to look forwardto on Block17, with a third development zone,Pazflor. Paz is Portuguese for peace, and thesediscoveries were made from 2000 to 2003,when peace was achieved in Angola.

The Pazflor conceptual studies are current-ly under way, with the idea that another FPSOwill be built for this third Block 17 develop-ment area – and yet a fourth developmentarea, CLOV (standing for Cravo, Lírio, Orquideaand Violeta), located to the north west of Block17, was confirmed with the discovery of thewell Orquidea-2 in October 2006. ❖

10 SONANGOL UNIVERSO

Rosa, with 25 wells, including 11 for waterinjection and 14 producers, is connected tothe Girassol FPSO by 64 km of insulated pipe-in-pipe production flowlines required some5,600 tonnes of special modules and equip-ment which were transported to the site,200km north west of Luanda, and installedaboard the FPSO with minimal interruption tonormal production from the already produc-ing Girassol and Jasmim fields.

This intricate project was carried out underrigorous and complex safety procedures – ahuge task which required around 400 techni-cians who were permanently working on theFPSO for more than two years, lodged in a spe-cial “flotel”, docked alongside it.

One of the many challenges to beaddressed was the problem of the distancefrom the field to the Girassol FPSO, with anadditional complication being that the tem-perature on the ocean floor is around 4ºC.

For the 30º API (American PetroleumInstitute standard) product to flow withoutforming plugs or hydrates, its temperaturemust be maintained above 20°C, so an entirelynew, so-called “pipe-in-pipe” technology wasdeveloped. This involves fitting the flowlinewithin an outer jacket which is filled with insu-lating material. Another Rosa innovation is theriser tower adjacent to the FPSO which bringsthe production flowlines more than 1,200m

from the seabed to the surface.When first oil flowed in December 2006,

just three years after the principal contractswere signed, the Dalia development was noless remarkable. “Dalia is a new global techno-logical benchmark, a milestone in the historyof deepwater oil development,” said Totalchairman and chief executive Christophe deMargerie at the inauguration of the field.

With proven and probable reserves esti-mated at close to 1 billion barrels, thehigh-tech development includes features suchas drill-through Christmas trees and an umbil-ical network of several kilometres which wasdesigned and constructed specially for theproject, connecting wells at a water depth of1,400m, to the huge FPSO, thereby creatingone of the biggest and most complex subseaproduction systems (SPS) in the world.

This SPS, constructed by Aker Kvaerner,includes no less than 71 wells: 37 producers,31 for water injection and three for gas injec-tion, linked to nine manifolds by insulatedflowlines to provide the right temperature tobring Dalia’s 21 – 23° API oil to the surfacewithout forming the hydrates that can perma-nently destroy the sub sea installations.

The Dalia project comprises eight flexibleproduction risers to convey the oil to the FPSO– an innovation from Girassol, which deploysrigid steel tower risers. These integrated pro-

“Dalia is a new globaltechnologicalbenchmark, amilestone inthe history ofdeepwater oildevelopment.”

Christophe de Margerie, Total chairman and

chief executive

BLOCK 17Total (operator) 40 %Esso 20 %BP 16.67 %Statoil 13.33 %Norsk Hydro 10 %Sonangol is concessionaire

PREPARING:

FPSO Dalia earlier this year withthe Drillship Pride Africabackground

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I N D U S T R Y

Thirty five years ago, Okpo on the holidayisland of Geoje, South Korea, was a featurelesscoastal plain enclosed by mountains which pro-tected it from the weather. Today, it is the home ofthe giant DSME (Daewoo Shipbuilding & MarineEngineering) shipyard, one the world’s most suc-cessful shipbuilders.

In the early 1970s, the Korean economy hadgrown by 9 per cent and the government was look-ing to expand its heavy industries, particularly inthe shipbuilding sector where there was a globalshortage of large bulk and crude oil carriers.

Okpo Bay was seen to be the ideal location forthe proposed 1 million-tonne class yard and, afterraising almost $103 billion, the historic ground-breaking ceremony by the Korea Shipbuilding andEngineering Company (KSEC) took place onOctober 11, 1973.

Transforming the area into a world-class ship-yard was a herculean task that would take eightyears. The water depth in the sheltered bay, whichfaced the open sea, was no more than 15 metresand the tide fall 1 metre. Preparation work wouldinvolve the relocation of a river and the removal ofa small mountain. But by April 1981 the core No 1Dock was completed.

The story of the Okpo shipyard has since beena turbulent one that has tracked the ups anddowns of Korea’s economy as well as the fortunesof the oil industry and world shipbuilding trends.Its steady development saw the original KSEC

South Korea hasdominated the

world shipbuildingindustry for manyyears – and one

yard stands headand shoulders

above its peers foruncompromising

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buildingtheBest

14 SONANGOL UNIVERSO AUTUMN 2007 15

Groundbreaking cere-mony for the KSECShipyard, Okpo

Deawoo Shipbuildingand Heavy Machinery Coacquires Okpo Shipyard

First chemical carrierbuilt

Okpo Shipyard completed

Construction of Dock IIcompleted

Ship and MarineTechnology ResearchInstitute established

Completion of first300,000dwt VLCC

First profitable year ISO 9001 certificationacquired

Ranked world No 1 fororders and first Koreansubmarine completed

swallowed up by the Daewoo conglomerate in1978 before breaking away in 2000 to becomeDSME and radically restructure itself to createstrength and stability.

This proved to be a winning formula andthis year the shipbuilder achieved its annualorder target of $11 billion in just six months. InJune, it acquired orders from European ownersfor 13 containerships worth almost $1.8 billion.The vessels are scheduled to be delivered byMarch 2011.

These new bookings bring the DSME totalfor the year to 84 vessels and other offshoreprojects, prompting the company to raise its2007 target to $17 billion, up by 55 per cent onlast year.

In particular, DSME has shown strength incontainerships and has so far this year man-aged to attract 50 orders worth approximately$6 billion, nearly 55 per cent of the total ordersreceived for 2007.

In line with its success, DSME is planningto expand production facilities at No.2 dock,including extending the dock by 190 metresand doubling the capacity of a gantry crane to900 tonnes.

Earlier in the year, the shipbuilder receiveda quality award from the Korean Ministry ofCommerce and Industry when three vesselswere recognised as world-best products oftheir type.

DSME has developed into the premier spe-cialised shipbuilding and offshore contractor,building a whole range of vessels, offshoreplatforms, drilling rigs, floating oil productionunits and military craft.

The shipbuilder employs about 1,500 designand R&D personnel, and more than 25,000skilled workers (including subcontractors) tobuild vessels with outfitting that allows easymaintenance and repairs, while fully complyingwith international standards including IMO.

Very large crude carriers (VLCCs), LNG car-riers, bulk carriers and containerships areDSME’s core product, having seen more than500 of these giants sail away since the yard wasestablished. But that is only part of the story.The ability and imagination of its designersand engineers to handle big concepts led tothe development of expertise in offshore struc-tures of all types, such as the massive FPSOsand drillships offshore Angola as well as thosethat operate in the hostile northern waters.

Thanks to its expertise in building LNG car-riers, DSME has become one of the leaders inthe industry, building low-cost, fuel-efficientvessels, with a proven reliability of their GTTmembrane containment system which operateat the highest speeds among ships of the sameclass.

The company has also achieved a reputa-tion for building specialist vessels such aspassenger, ro-ro, chemical carriers and naval

Thanks to its expertise inbuilding LNG carriers, DSME hasbecome one of the leaders inthe industry, building low-cost,fuel-efficient vessels

Angola Connection

The recently completed159,000dwt Sonangol Namibeat DSME further strengthensthe bond between Angolaand Korea as the vessel joinsSonangol Shipping’s five-strong fleet of Suexmaxcrude carriers, all built atOkpo. Last year, Chevronannounced an order for a$1.27-billion drilling and pro-duction platform for thedevelopment of the Tombua-Landana field, whiledeepwater giant Transoceanrecently gave the green lightfor a newbuild drillship fromDSME to work its $900 mil-lion contract with BP Angola.

In the last six years, sevenenergy-related structures andvessels have sailed from theyard for Angolan waters.

May 2001North Nemba productionplatform (Chevron)

December 2002Kizomba A ExtendedTension Leg Platform (Esso)

November 2003Sanha Condensate fixedplatforms (Chevron)

March 2005Kizomba B ExtendedTension Leg Platform (Esso)

October 2005Beguela Belize CompliantPiled Tower Platform(Chevron)

March 2006Dalia FPSO (Total)

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vessels, including destroyers, research vessels,offshore patrol boats – and its own design1,200 tonne submarine. It boasts a worldwideclient list which includes most of the leadingshipowners.

The Okpo yard, located adjacent to theStraits of Korea, an international sea routeconnecting the Middle East, South East Asia,Japan and the United States, has some of theworld’s finest production facilities in the shapeof the largest docks, cranes and 38 automatedplant facilities.

Innovation is at the heart of the DSME sys-tem. Each section of a vessel is built inprefabricated blocks in specialist areas of thesprawling yard– as many as 85 individualblocks in some cases – and then assembled indry dock like a giant Lego. Each block comescomplete with pipework and other fittings,

which must marry precisely with their coun-

terpart. The bridge and superstructure is built

as a complete module before being lifted into

place on the hull.

State-of-the-art design, research and devel-

opment, and welding technology ensure

vessels of exceptional quality that come with a

25-year hull guarantee.

“The owners of ships built by DSME

express their satisfaction by saying that the

quality is not matched by any other ship-

builder,” says DSME president & CEO Nam

Sang-Tae. “Even in Europe and the United

States, owning a DSME-built vessel is at the

top of every shipowner’s wish list.”

So Sonangol Shipping can rest assured that

its five crude carriers plying world routes are

members of a thoroughbred family. ❖

AUTUMN 2007 1716 SONANGOL UNIVERSO

Merger with DaewooHeavy Industries

Accreditation to ISO14001 (environmentalmanagement)

First destroyer completedand first passenger ferrydelivered

Presidential Award forPrecision Technologyreceived

Debt equity swap to spin-off Daewoo Shipbuilding

World No 1 for LNGcarrier orders

Nominated World’sBest Shipbuilder byLloyds List

Delivery of the world’sfirst LNG-RV (regasifica-tion vessel)

Record of $11 billionorders achieved

Grand Prize at the 2007Labor-ManagementCooperation Awards

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DSME Factfile

Total area of the Okpo shipyard 442 hectaresNumber of employees, including contractors 26,000Value of orders in 2006 $5 billionOrders target for 2007* $17 billionTotal advance orders (approx three years work) $28.5 billion

To be completed in 2007 42 commercial vessels4 offshore structures2 onshore plants2 destroyersI submarine (overhaul)

Okpo vessels completed since established** 255 crude carriers144 bulk carriers118 containerships44 ro-ro vessels38 LNG carriers12 LPG carriers7 ferries

DSME has International locations in Angola, Canada, Greece, Japan,Norway, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States.

Korea has the world’s largest shipbuilding industry with a 40 per centmarket share. DSME is the world’s second largest shipyard, and the secondbiggest in Korea.

An icon of the Okpo yard is the massive Goliath gantry crane – theworld’s biggest – which serves the world’s largest dry dock. Commissionedin January 1980 at a cost of approximately $13 million, 6,000 tonnes of spe-cial steel were used. It has a span of 205 metres and can lift 900 tonnes.

* Originally set at $11 million, but revised upwards in June 2007. ** As at July 1, 2007

“Even in Europe and the UnitedStates, owning a DSME-builtvessel is at the top of everyshipowner’s wish list.”

Nam Sang-Tae, president and chief executive DSME

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E N V I R O N M E N T

GreeninitiativeFor oil companies tosponsor renewableenergy is like turkeysvoting for Christmasbut , contrary topopular perceptions,the supermajors areinvesting big moneyin such projects

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E“Exactly 0% of passenger jets can be fuelled bywind, solar or nuclear energy,” says the hard-hit-ting Chevron advertisement on display at many ofthe world’s major airports.

Intriguingly, in the same poster, the oil compa-ny poses the question to the millions of passingpassengers: “So what’s the answer?” and encour-ages them to get involved via its willyoujoinus.comwebsite.

Already, it is clear that energy will be one of thedefining issues of this century and the Chevronwebsite is an example of how the industry is tryingto engage the public in addressing the challengespresented by climate change. So how does thesupermajor expect to be able to engage the world?“We believe that innovation, collaboration andconservation are the cornerstones on which tobuild this new world, but we can’t do it alone,” saysa Chevron spokesman. “Corporations, govern-ments and every citizen of this planet must be partof the solution as surely as they are part of theproblem.”

When UK-based BP rebranded itself within ayellow and green, flower-like Helios logo and talkedof “beyond petroleum”, it appears that one of theworld’s biggest energy companies is hoping to alterthe balance of its investment by increasing spend-ing on alternative and renewable fuel sources.

As Tony Hayward, the newly-appointed chiefexecutive of BP, says: “Fears about climate changeand its consequences are in my view both well-

AUTUMN 2007 21

Sonangol leads the way

Around 80 per cent of Angolansrely on biomass for their daily energyneeds, mostly in the form of firewoodor charcoal. The country’s biomassstocks are significant and, due in partto the long-running civil war, have

been left relatively undisturbed inmany parts of the country.

However, severe local deforestationhas occurred near most large cities inrecent years, extending in some areasup to a 200 to 300km radius aroundLuanda. Such zones are growing, inturn raising the transport costs of char-coal, which make up a large part of itsprice to the consumer.

In the meantime, while the super-majors are busy with advancedsustainable energy technologies thatmay one day reach the market, signifi-cant practical steps are being taken inAngola.

It is one of the countries that couldmake Africa the world’s largest produc-er of sustainable biofuels in the future.A rough estimate shows that its exportpotential in 2050 is around six exa-joules per year – the equivalent of 2.7million barrels of oil per day – after therapidly rising food, fuel, fodder andfibre needs of its growing populationhave been met. This is without defor-estation or the use of land protectedfor conservation.

One home-grown concept is a bio-fuels project being developed bySonangol and Galp Energia. Sonangol

recently become a shareholder of thePortuguese energy company and itschairman, Manuel Vicente, a Galp non-executive director.

Galp and Sonangol are alreadyworking together on fuel distributionacross Angola and plan to cultivatearound 200,000 hectares of agriculturalland to grow energy crops such as palmoil.

Meanwhile, the Angolan-Portuguese group Afriagro plans tomake an initial investment of $46.6million in a biodiesel plant that will uselocally sourced African palm oil.Construction of the plant is expectedto begin in 2008.

The project is to be located nearthe Atlantic town of Ambriz, in Bengoprovince. It will consist of a new 5,000-hectare palm plantation of high-yieldhybrids that start producing har-vestable oil-rich fruit after three years.From the fourth year they are matureand continue to yield for a further 20years.

Portugal’s Atlântica group holds a45 per cent stake in Afriagro, with theremainder divided between Angolanfirms Nzogi Yetu, Coroa Gest and Lion.


founded and are contributing to perhaps thefastest growing international political move-ments.”

Renewable sources of energy (biomass,solar, wind, hydro and geothermal) are self-replenishing and clean, and currentlycontribute around 15 to 20 per cent of theworld’s energy supply.

Solar power is expanding as technologyimproves and its cost becomes more competi-tive. Commercial wind turbines are nowharnessing energy in more than 65 countries,making wind power the world’s fastest growingsource of energy after solar power, and geo -thermal energy – heat from the earth – ismeeting a significant portion of electricalpower demand in many developing countries.

In line with these trends, the oil companiesare pumping time and money into alternativeenergy development, some by investing inhigh-tech research, others preferring to focuson improving their hydrocarbon prospects.

ConocoPhillips, for example, is investing$22.5 million to fund an eight-year programmeat Iowa State University in the United Statesdedicated to researching and producing bio-renewable fuels. The grant is part of thecompany’s policy to create joint research pro-grammes with major universities to producesolutions to diversify America’s energy sources.

“We believe the key to a secure energyfuture is the efficient and effective use of adiverse mix of energy sources,” says Jim Mulva,chief executive of ConocoPhillips. “We aredeveloping long-term relationships withrespected academic institutions such as IowaState to research extensions of traditionalenergy sources that ultimately will benefitconsumers.”

Meanwhile, Chevron has partnered withthe University of California to develop trans-portation fuels from renewable resources suchas new energy crops, forest and agriculturalresidues, and municipal solid waste. The com-pany is also working with the US Departmentof Energy’s National Renewable EnergyLaboratory in Golden, Colorado, to developrenewable transportation fuels.

Chevron is one of the sector’s highestspenders on renewable and alternative energyprojects and energy efficiency schemes andarguably, through its 1,152 megawattIndonesian geothermal power projects, is thesector’s largest producer of renewable poweramong the big oil companies.

Despite being the world’s largest non-gov-ernment-controlled oil company by marketvalue, ExxonMobil does not currently believerenewables are commercially viable on a sig-nificant scale without government incentives –a policy that it opposes. Although the compa-ny sold its solar-power business in the 1980sand now has no direct investments in renew-able energy, it has committed $100 millionover ten years to the Global Climate andEnergy Project based at Stanford University,which seeks to make lower carbon energytechnologies including solar energy more eco-nomic.

ExxonMobil is watching developmentsclosely and could well invest in the sectorshould significant technological break-throughs make wind, solar or biofuels morecompetitive with oil and gas. Privately, compa-ny executives are said to be sceptical abouttheir rivals’ commitment to renewables, andalso consider that their environmental creden-tials are exaggerated.

Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil’s peer grouprival, has long invested in alternative energysources and has spent around $1.25 billionsince 1999 on developing technologies, includ-ing $150 million on hydrogen energy research.

The supermajor says it has invested $1 bil-lion in renewables (excluding biodiesel) andhydrogen activities in the past five years. Thegroup maintains a high-profile presence in thesector including a 350 megawatt wind-powerbusiness that ranks among the world’s top 20similar projects, and is now expanding steadily,particularly in the UK, the Netherlands and theUS.

Smaller funds are being spent on geother-mal energy concepts that work by pumpingwater into hot rocks deep underground, there-by creating steam to drive turbines.

While ExxonMobil, and to a lesser extentShell, have limited investments in solar power,BP is a leading supporter of the technologyand has operated the world’s largest solar-panel manufacturing businesses since 1980,investing around $500 million between 1999and 2005.

Despite spending close to $100 million onrenewable energy technology, French oil majorTotal is not yet fully engaged in the sector. Todate, most of its interest has focused on windpower through a five-turbine wind farm nearits Les Flandres refinery complex in northernFrance. Costing around $20 million, the farmhas an installed capacity of 12 megawatts peryear. More plants are planned, says the compa-ny, with France as the focal point.

Total has also promised to spend morethan $340 million on research and wind andsolar-power projects between 2005 and 2010,but reports suggest that little of this invest-ment has been made to date.

Thus, money is being spent by the super-majors on renewables, with companiesgenerally investing to keep up with the public’sgrowing concern about climate change.However, with the real technological break-throughs still some years away, oil and gas willcontinue to provide the energy that keeps theworld flying for the short to medium term – aswell as serving the myriad needs to keepindustry and domestic life on the move. ❖

“Fears aboutclimate changeand itsconsequencesare in my viewboth well-founded and arecontributing toperhaps thefastest growinginternationalpoliticalmovements.”

Tony Hayward, chief executive BP

Ocean Floorlife on the

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The ROV hasproved aninvaluable tool inthe developmentof Angola’s deep water –but it is also a unique aidfor oceanographersexploring the seabed

What do the murderous crab, lizard-fish, giant tripod crab and chaz fish havein common? They are all names of thedeep-water creatures that scientists havefound while cruising the ocean floor withremotely operated vehicles (ROV) whichare essential tools of Angola’s offshore oilindustry.

“The great thing is that in deepseascience very few common names exist soyou can make things up, based on whatthey look like,” says Ian Hudson, advisorychairman of the Scientific andEnvironmental ROV Partnership usingExisting Industrial Technology (Serpent)project hosted at the UK’s NationalOceanography Centre.

“The chaz fish was named after a BPrig worker called Charlie because every-one thought it looked like him,” he says,laughing.

The aim of the Serpent project is tobring together the oil and gas industrywith science in order to discover moreabout the mysteries of the oceans and thecreatures that live there. It tries to makecutting-edge ROV technology and datafrom the industry more accessible to theworld’s science community and uses

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in a jar, then it is difficult to officially name it.”The process of obtaining data, observa-

tions and samples from several thousandmetres below sea level is anything but easy.While ROVs are invaluable in terms of gather-ing information, they are designed to servethe oil and gas industry and are often notideal for research purposes.

“The ROV is a priceless tool which allowsmuch closer observation of deep-watermarine life. But as something the size of a carwith a joystick, it is not perfect for our needs,”says Hudson.

Despite the technical challenges of doingthis kind of cutting-edge deep-water research,the project has been able to gather new infor-mation about marine life. Hudson playsrecently shot video footage of photos takenevery two minutes by an ROV over a 24-hourperiod. It reveals a group of crabs burying adead fish and then fighting over it for hours. Itis not just the existence of so many newspecies that has amazed scientists such as

Hudson, but how they spend their time.“This behaviour has absolutely never been

seen before,” he says. “When you take just onephoto, you don’t really get what is going on.But you can tell a lot more if you take a seriesover a period of time.”

However, there is a lot more to the Serpentproject than researching what goes on in thedepths of the ocean, with education a coreelement of the project.

Its website, www.serpentproject.com, hasseveral pages dedicated to informing studentsand teachers alike about its activities andfindings, and Hudson gives regular talks andlectures around the world to people workingin the oil and gas industry.

His hope is that the more we know aboutdeep-sea life, the better man will look after it.“My primary task is educational,” he says. “Ifyou understand what’s there, you can makesure what you do has a limited impact onwhat is living there. You are more likely to pro-tect it.” ❖


ROVs during their standby periods to exploredeep waters.

Hudson’s enthusiasm is infectious, as heanimatedly goes through slides of all sorts ofweird-looking creatures.

“For example, you would never know thiscoral existed unless you had the opportunityto look this deep down,” he says, flickingthrough photos of giant whales, colourfulanemones and a host of strange-looking fishliving in environments as deep as 3,000metres. “These are examples of the kinds ofcreatures you get in the deep seas. They growbig and large and live a really long time.”

It is little known that only 5 per cent of theworld’s deep waters (below 1,000 metres) havebeen explored by man, which is even less thanwhat is known of the Moon’s surface, Hudsonpoints out. He believes it is high time scientistswere able to get closer to marine nature to dis-cover more of its secrets.

“The ocean floor is a biodiversity hotspotwhich harbours new species and habitats, andthe oil and gas industry are operating in someof these areas,” says Hudson, who is also cor-

porate environmental advisor for globaldrilling contractor Transocean. “Our aim is toget to know the other 95 per cent with the helpof the oil and gas industry.”

The Serpent project started four years agoin Scotland. Since then it has carried outresearch around the world including in theGulf of Mexico, West Africa, India, Norway,Australia and Brazil.

In Angola, research is still in its early days

but Hudson is eager to get things moving. On arecent trip, he met with senior oil industry andscience officials in Luanda to try and generatesupport, which he found very forthcoming.Plans are already afoot for researchers fromthe project team in Southampton, England, tovisit Angola for several expeditions this year.

Hudson says rigs operating in offshoreAngola have regular visitors including sea tur-tles, dolphins, manta rays and sharks, but hebelieves the country’s deep waters hold evenmore secrets.

“Angola is a diverse place. A combinationof oceanographic and geological factors makeit a hotspot,” he explains. “The sea floor isalmost like a mountain range which providesdiverse places for species to live. I think ourresearch is likely to yield a lot of exciting findshere.”

There is good reason to believe him. TheSerpent project, which is entirely funded by itspartners in the oil and gas industry, hasalready discovered unknown marine life formsin other parts of the globe.

“We’ve found more than a handful of newspecies – some six to ten – that had never beenseen before, in addition to many more that wehaven’t collected and so could not identify,”says Hudson. “Unless a sample exists and it is

“Angola is adiverse place: acombination ofoceanographicand geologicalfactors make ita hotspot.”

Dr Ian Hudson, Advisory Chairman,

The Scientific and EnvironmentalROV Partnership

(below)

CONFRONTATION: Deepsea crabs fight over adead fish they have buried

CURIOUS: A chimaera phantasma circlesa bait cage at 500m depth

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PulseofExpansion

Almost all ofAngola’soffshore oilproduction liesbeyond thehorizon ofshore-basedobservers, butin Luanda theSonils baseoffers dramaticevidence of itsrecentexpansion

base to more than 13km, and are much wel-comed for the efficient discharge of surfacewater, as well as mitigating the problems ofmosquito breeding at certain times of the year.

But even when the current phase is com-plete, Sonils has its eyes on a more distant goal.There is a project to double the base’s powersupply to 12.5 megawatts – and there is thequest to reclaim yet more land from the har-bour to feed the voracious appetite of clients.

Already the base is the workplace for some7,000 people, and another important newfacility is a state-of-the-art first aid stationwhich, in addition to treating emergencies,boasts malaria testing facilities. ❖

S E R V I C E

WWhen it opened for operations inSeptember 1995, Sonangol Integrated LogisticsServices (Sonils) occupied just 30,000sq.m ofopen storage and stacking area and 72m ofquayside to the north of Luanda’s main port.

The concept of this facility was to providethe full spectrum of backup for the offshore oiland gas industry within a secure environment,supported by high-quality infrastructure, utili-ties and other services.

The project proved an instant success withthe oil exploration companies and technicalservice industries, in that it provided a reliablebase from which to service offshore opera-tions. So much so that, just 12 years later,Sonils now comprises some 1,200,000sq.m ofstorage space and, by the end of 2007 will havea total of almost 1.3kms of quayside .

“Such is the current pace of growth that allthe additional space created on land reclaimedfrom the harbour is already committed toclients,” says Andrew Burnett, Sonils’ market-ing and commercial manager. “It has been thisway from the beginning: a continual drive tokeep pace with industry demand.”

These days, Sonils offers much more thanthe basic land area and access to the quayside.As part of the recent multi-million dollarinvestment programme, there will be a heavy-lift dock with two 500-tonne cranes offering atotal lift capacity of 1,000 tonnes, and whenthe development is complete there will also bea 7,000sq.m fabrication workshop with inter-nal lift capability of 200 tonnes. Other plantincludes self-propelled modular transporters(SPMTs) with the capacity to move structuresof up to 150 tonnes around the yard.

“The aim is to provide top-end services to

oil and gas companies, at the same timeincreasing local content and skills transfer,”says Burnett. “This will in turn provide a posi-tive contribution for the county.”

Another innovation which will have amajor impact is the installation of quaysidefuelling facilities. This will enable vessels totake on bunkers direct from the nearbySonangol storage tanks a short distance fromthe port, while discharging cargo.

“This will result in shorter turnround timesby saving the vessel the need to move offshoreto refill its fuel tanks,” says Burnett.

Another improvement is the constructionof new drainage channels – some of which arelarge enough to take a 4x4 vehicle. They bringthe total length of roads and drains on the

Total E&P AngolaTotal, another long-time Sonils resi-

dent, recently took on an extra16,216sq.m for pipe storage, an inspec-tion area and a modern automatedpipe-cleaning system, as well as a stor-age facility for drums of chemicals.

Sonangol LaboratóriosThe project under construction for

Sonangol Laboratórios provides for a4,000sq.m laboratory on two levels,incorporating state-of-the-art equip-ment to service the oil and gas industry,as well as the import and export ofrefined products.

Socotherm coating plantsThe two Socotherm installations

comprise the first pipe-coating plants inAngola. Thepolypropylene/polyurethane facility sup-plies coated pipes for SevenseasAngola’s contract with the EssoSaxi–Batuque field, to be followed by asecond commitment to Chevron’sTombua–Landana project. The62,500sq.m plant for concrete pipe-coat-ing includes a containerised factory andwill service a project for Chevron inMalongo.

Sevenseas AngolaSevenseas Angola will support its

spooling and pipe-laying work for theSaxi–Batuque and Tombua–Landanaprojects from its Sonils spoolbase. Tosupport these projects, it is to enhanceits existing 70,000sq.m of facilities withadditional welding plant and joint-coat-ing machinery, as well as an increasedlevel of operational equipment.

Nalco AngolaSonils is developing a new chemical-

storage and processing facility and officesfor Nalco Angola, which was awarded aproduction chemical contract by BP’sGreater Plutonio FPSO on Block 18.

New DevelopmentsThere have been some important

newcomers to Sonils, joining the broadmix of technical, engineering and spe-cialist service providers who will servicethe offshore oilfield developments in themonths to come.

BP Exploration AngolaBP has been operating from the

Sonils base since 1998 and in Mayopened a 45,000sq.m logistics centre tosupport its offshore operations on blocks18 and 31, bringing its total area at thesite to more than 82,000sq.m. In additionto the striking 1,500sq.m office building,there are 3,000sq.m of warehousing andcovered storage.

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In the rural areas life goes on, but even though it may seem simpleto the casual observer, community activity is as intricately choreo-graphed as in any urban environment, with the interplay ofpersonalities influencing the directions taken.

Music, storytelling and art weave a bright thread of timeless conti-nuity that endures beyond the frontiers of human memory to feed thesoul of the generations to come.

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R E G I O N A L F O C U S

CountryHome of the ancient Chokwe kingdom, the Lunda provincesprovide an intriguing frontier land between Angola and thetropical beauty of the Congo Basin

border

The provinces of Lunda Suland Lunda Norte form thenorth east-corner of Angolabordering on the DemocraticRepublic of Congo (DRC).Touching down at the dustyairport of Saurimo, Lunda Sul’scapital, after the 1,000kmflight from Luanda, there is apalpable sense of distancefrom civilisation.

Not that the neat provin-cial capital with itswell-ordered streets does notexhibit all the trappings ofcities further west, it is more asense of being deeper into theinterior of Africa.

In the countryside aroundthe city, the flat open bush isdotted with grass-hut villagesand closely-wooded valleysknown as gallery forests whichhug close to the rivers runningsouth to north towards themighty Congo River almost1,200km away. At nearly everybridge or clear area, womenare washing clothes or bathing– but keeping a wary eye outfor crocodiles.

Saurimo is a gratifying sur-prise: although it was held bythe MPLA throughout the civilwar and was besieged at timesby Unita there are few signs ofthe former conflict, unlike inmany other communities. Thisis because there was no inten-sive sowing of mines, to

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hardship and the pervading closeness of deathmean that the Christian message strikes a par-ticular chord with the Chokwe people,” saysBritish missionary Ruth Hadley of theChristian Brethren. “We are able to undertakeuseful work in education and healthcare, andform a valuable point of reference that is clear-ly independent of other authorities.”

Attending a Sunday service in a remote vil-lage out in the bush gives a compellingexperience of this. On approaching the largegrass-roofed hut that is the church, singingthat would do credit to a cathedral choir gentlyresonates through the sun-baked silence of thetall grass.

Entering the dark interior, it is a whilebefore the scene becomes visible. On rows ofbenches sit the villagers, quite literally in their“Sunday best” – the men in suits and ties,women in colourful dresses and headscarvescuddling their babies, some breastfeeding, asthe service unfolds.

At the front is a simple altar, while along-side sit the visiting preacher and choir.Although the service appears to have no for-mal structure – a succession of hymns andsongs interspersed by prayers, bible readingsand instruction – the message is clear enoughand there is earnest intensity among the con-gregation as it joins in.

Through the door, the infinite bushstretches into the distance, interrupted only bythe silhouettes of youngsters leaning in to

watch the proceedings.The mission also runs a medical centre and

small leper colony, the latter now thankfully indecline as the disease appears to be on thewane.

“Our big project at the moment is the con-struction of a new primary school,” says MsHadley, as she leads the way along a junglepath to where the buildings are taking shape.“It is designed to interface with the officialgovernment education programme.”

Just beyond the Saurimo limits, a tentedcamp houses returnees – Angolans comingback to their homeland after they or their par-ents fled the hostilities. They have come fromZambia and are waiting to be transferred totheir own villages. It is a surprise to hear themspeak better English than they do Portuguese,due to their time away, and although they feelreluctant to approach the city for work, MsHadley points out that with their fluentEnglish they have a valued skill to teach.

After the soft seat of the flight from Luandato Saurimo, the 250km-overland ride alongvestigial roads in an ancient Land Rover toDundo, capital of Lunda Norte, is a more livelyexperience. But even the featureless open ter-rain has a pattern – a succession of sprawlingvillages and manioc plantations buried in for-est clearings, and the drifting smoke fromfree-burning fires on the horizon.

A frequent occurrence during the dry sea-son, the flames skip through the grass and

safeguard the lucrative diamond- miningactivities.

Saurimo was also one of the easternmostpoints on which the colonising Portuguese puttheir stamp, so the design of public buildingsand homes, while clearly of European influ-ence, exhibits much less of the distinctlycolonial style to be found elsewhere in thecountry.

Considerable efforts have been made bythe local administration under the direction ofthe governor Dr Marcial Miji Kalumbi SatambiItengo to smarten up the public places, and atnight they are illuminated with recentlyinstalled street lighting powered by electricityfrom the nearby Chicapa hydroelectricscheme.

The region is the heartland of the Chokwepeople. The name Lunda refers to this ancientkingdom which straddled northeastern Angolaand the southwestern part of the DRC. TheChokwe have rich historical and cultural tradi-tions demonstrated in their songs, folklore anddances. In the mukanda, young boys learn howto dance, to make traps, to fish, hunt, makehandicrafts and the rhythms of their traditionalmusic – but nowadays the young girls receivetheir cultural, sexual and social education inthe home. Chokwe sculpture is highly popularwith collectors – one of the most well knownforms being O Pensador, a graceful figure of aphilosopher resting his head in his hands.

Until 1986, Lunda Sul and Lunda Norte

were one province. Now, Lunda Sul comprisesalmost 78,000sq.km with a population ofaround 190,000 people. Cassai Sul was wherethe emigrants from the Lunda-Chokwe empirefinally settled, and Zona Cucumbi, MonaQuimbundo, Sueji and Itengo were the pointsof the first Portuguese military incursion to theregion.

Most of the population practices subsis-tence agriculture, growing manioc, sweetpotato and yam, and supplementing its dietwith fishing and hunting. Other crops such astomatoes, soya beans and potatoes all thrive,but the root vegetable manioc is the staple.Taking 12 months to mature, it is processedinto many forms, including a fine white flour.

The only real employment centres on dia-mond extraction. Efforts are being made toestablish other industries, such as the manu-facture of construction materials, powered byelectricity from the Chicapa scheme.

The main route to the west through Cacoloand Malange is in a poor state, in spite of therehabilitation programme being undertakenby Chinese contractors.

Although this region is not quite what wasdescribed by Victorian explorers as “DarkestAfrica”, church missionary societies over sever-al generations have done valuable work withinthe ethnic communities, including educationand the building of schools, in addition tomoral guidance.

“Their social structure, family community,


“We are ableto undertakeuseful work ineducation andhealthcare,and form avaluable pointof referenceindependentof otherauthorities.”

Ruth Hadley, missionary ofChristian Brethren

COUNTRY LIFE: Washday smiles and cleanlaundry, market day withmanioc flour for sale, Sundayservice for a village community


scrub which will soon regrow with the returnof the rains. Lumpy termite mounds spearskywards across the landscape.

It may be the temporary cloud that dark-ens the sky, but Lucapa – named as theprovincial capital of Lunda Norte by PresidentAgostino Neto and now a centre for the dia-mond interests of the region – has the lookand feel of a Wild West frontier town. Policepatrolling the streets with guns at the readyare highly visible, and there is a barely- con-cealed menace in the air.

A passing car displays a windscreen shat-tered by bullets – incongruously repaired withtransparent tape. The airport, now apparentlyclosed, is littered with the wrecks of largefreighters cocked at crazy angles where theyhave come to rest with their wings pointingskywards.

Lunda Norte has an area of 103,000sq.kmand a population of around 850,000. It is rich

in diamonds but remainsvastly impoverished, withmost of the population notemployed in the diamondindustry living on subsistencefarming, as in Lunda Sul.

Arrival into Dundo indarkness some 10 hours afterleaving Saurimo allows nohint of its surprising andunique architecture. Adjacentto Chitato, on the border withthe DRC, the city was origi-nally built by a British miningcompany to house workersengaged in diamond extrac-tion – and dawn reveals analmost perfect recreation of

an English suburban town of the period,though now somewhat dilapidated.

But like Saurimo, this city has fine, well-kept public buildings including a library andmuseum. The latter is now closed but oncehoused a fine collection of Chokwe artefacts,now looted. There is a new university, and ahospital is being built in the shell of a formerpublic building – evidence that some centralgovernment investment is taking place.

An example of this is the micro-creditproject which has benefited 463 farmers sinceit was implemented in 2005. They are nowproducing rice, cassava, maize and peanuts.

The programme was launched by theFinance Ministry, and the state-owned creditand savings bank, BPC, the Federation ofFarmers Associations, Sol Bank and theAgrarian Development Institute to help farm-ers, teachers and nurses to improve theirsocial conditions. ❖

Shared VisionDr Marcial Miji Kalumbi Satambi Itengo

and Viriato Chalituka have things in com-mon. Both are from the same province innortheastern Angola and have travelled farbeyond the horizons of their childhood togain experience of other countries. Neitheris young and they are separated by a gulfthat puts them almost at opposite ends ofthe social spectrum – yet both have a pas-sion to improve the lot of their fellowcitizens.

Marcial (left) is the son of a king andgovernor of Lunda Sul Province. Viriatofarms a small plot of land outside Saurimoemploying a handful of labourers to gath-er vegetables for sale in the market.

As the son of an influential ruler, DrItengo, who was a child in colonial times,was sent first to the University of Congo atElizabethville to complete his educationwhere he gained an honours degree in lin-guistics. With the coming ofindependence, he moved to Namibia andthen Botswana to lecture in applied lin-guistics and development administration.

In 1978, during the civil war, Dr Itengomoved on to Swaziland, then to Australiaand finally to the United Kingdom to doresearch at the North London University. “Icould not stand to see the fightingbetween brothers,” he says. “But thoughthe transition was difficult, I learnt a lot. In2001 my father died, but I felt that myyounger brother would be more suitable towear the crown.”

Instead, he was appointed Governor ofLunda Sul and took up residence inSaurimo, where much needed to be doneto rebuild the infrastructure and mend rela-tionships between old enemies.

“I saw the priorities as reliable electrici-ty, clean water, and a hospital and schoolsin every district,” he says. “Being so far-from the centre of power in Luanda, therewere few resources, and communicationswere seriously compromised with the manybridges in ruins.”

But in the years since he moved intothe governor’s residence, Dr Itengo hasworked hard to improve life for his people.When the hydroelectric dam was beingbuilt for the Catoca on the nearby ChicapaRiver, he insisted that a share of the powergenerated should find its way to light thestreets and homes of Saurimo, while the

outlying villages could benefit from solarenergy.

“In addition to lighting our streets,electricity will power new industries here,”says the governor. “This will mean realjobs. We have many rivers in this regionand a plentiful supply of clean power, sowe are not dependent on oil.”

Along the way Governor Itengo has alsooverseen the restoration of much of thecapital, and with it the pride of its citizens.“I am proud of my part in shaping thefuture of what was my father’s kingdom.My roots are in this soil, but I have had thegood fortune to see how things are done inother parts of the world,” he says.

The contrast with Viriato Chalitukacould hardly be greater, though he too hasgained unique insight into the ways of oth-ers. Educated in a mission school, with thecoming of the civil war he was imprisonedas a terrorist in Namibe province, where helater learnt the techniques of agriculturefrom white people.

“This was my university,” says thedeeply religious Chalituka. “God put me inthis community and gave me the wisdom

to make a success with what I can do.”Living in the country outside Saurimo, heruns a small holding where, with up to 15people, he grows an increasing variety ofvegetables.

“Everyone here eats manioc, but I amgrowing cabbage, papaya, beans, toma-toes and pineapples,” he says. “Theseprovide a more varied diet of vitamins andother nutrients. I am experimenting withfertilisers when I can get them, and if Ihave seeds over, I distribute them in thecommunity.”

Chalituka is providing jobs and slowlyinculcating the basic skills that will enableothers to produce healthy food. The imme-diate limit being placed on his thrivingbusiness is transportation of the produce tomarket. However, he has already applied tocultivate a further 30 hectares, and otherlocal people have begun to take notice ofhis methods and his improved yields.

In his own way, he echoes GovernorItengo’s open-handed philosophy. “The soilI work is given by God. I only wish to sharewhat I have, rather than to take,” saysChalituka.

“I am proud of mypart in shaping thefuture of what wasmy father’skingdom.”

Dr Marcial Miji Kalumbi Satambi Itengo,Provincial governor, Lunda Sul

“The soil I work isgiven by God. I onlywish to share whatI have, rather thanto take.”

Viniatu Chalituta, subsistence farmer, Saurimo

CITY LIFE:

Official residences inDundo and Saurimo,young returnees,officers of the law

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SparklingAsset

At the mention ofAngola, the first word totrip off many tongues isprobably “oil” – but the

diamond industry is nowthe country’s second

biggest revenue earner

TThe vast interior ofAngola, approximatelythe size of westernEurope, is today one ofthe continent’s biggestgem producers – andthe world’s fifth largestafter Botswana,Russia, Canada andSouth Africa.

Indeed, whileAngola’s diamondsalready make upbetween 7 to 9 percent of global produc-tion, the state diamond company Endiamasays it is still early days for the industry,which it believes will blossom now that thecountry is at peace.

“At the moment we produce seven mil-lion carats a year and we would like to seethat grow,” says Dr Manuel Calado, the com-pany’s president, who predicts that the firmcould see annual production swell to morethan 10 million carats this year.

Angolan diamonds are considered by theindustry to be of top–notch quality. Expertssay alluvial deposits –– washed from kim-berlite formations by the elements overthousands of years into surrounding riversand soils –– generally go for more than $200per carat which is well above the interna-tional average.

“Everything we see about Angolan dia-monds suggests that they are very goodindeed,” says a senior official from De Beers,

the South African dia-mond giant, whichrecently restarted itsoperations in Angola.

While clearly confi-dent of the industry’spotential to be a sig-nificant cash earner,Dr Calado is under noillusion that its dia-mond activities willever reap morerewards than oil.

“No, this isn’t pos-sible,” he says. “We’re

not trying to do this, it isn’t our objective.We would like the sector to grow, to helpspur development here. We can only com-plement the oil industry, but diamondrevenues will never reach those of oil.Investments in the oil sector are very largeand the industry makes a lot of money.

“But maybe we could become thestate’s second largest revenue earner. Wewould like to become a strong company,able to contribute significantly to the statebudget.”

During the war, almost all productionwas low-cost, shallow mining of alluvialdeposits from where they could be pluckedby hand. But because it requires huge num-bers of labourers and is spread over largeareas, it was more difficult to regulate thankimberlite mining.

Since 2003, the government has expelledseveral hundred thousand illegal foreign

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The plant – the biggest in Africa – has thecapacity to process around $30 million worthof diamonds, equivalent to 70,000 carats, eachmonth. This means that around 40 per cent ofall rough diamonds mined in Angola could bepolished at home before being sold on theinternational market.

Israeli diamond magnate Lev Leviev has a47 per cent share in the Angola operation aswell as stakes in several other polishing facto-ries globally including South Africa andNamibia. He says diamond-rich countries inAfrica such as Angola should add value to therough diamonds they extract by polishingthem.

“If I’m an African and I have diamonds inmy African land, I want to see an output ofthese diamonds to give work to my people, notto other people,” he says. “You see that there isa range of 30 to 40 per cent of unemploymentin Africa. So the simplest solution is to helpthem help themselves, which means to investhere to process more raw materials within thecountry.”

Inside the new $10 million polishing plant,row upon row of the latest hi-tech machineshave been installed where around 600Angolans are working – including 40 per centwomen and 40 per cent disabled .

For Endiama, which has a 48 per cent sharein the factory, the opening of the plant signi-fies the turning of a page in the history of theindustry. “This represents the starting up of anew business for us, and the start of a newindustry for the country, which means survivalfor many employees who will find work here,”said Dr Calado at the factory’s opening.“Rough diamonds already have a value, add tothat their polishing and for sure they’ll haveextra value…it makes economic sense.”

Indeed, Eugenio Bravo da Rosa, the direc-tor general of Angola Polishing Diamonds(APD), recently told the Jornal de Angola thatpolished diamonds could bring in annual rev-enue of between $300 and $400 million. Ifcoupled with the creation of an efficient chan-nel for selling the gems, da Rosa is confidentthat this sub–sector could also make a signifi-cant contribution to the the country’s grossdomestic product.

As the industry flourishes, becoming evenmore expansive and better organised, dia-monds will certainly become a major source ofemployment and income for the country. Thesong tells us that “diamonds are a girl’s bestfriend” and it seems that Angola can now alsocount itself fortunate with this loyal ally! ❖


miners in a bid to impose some control on thesector and crack down on widespread smug-gling activities.

In this increasingly organised climate, for-eign businessmen have not been shy indemonstrating their confidence in Angola’smineral sector – with diamonds winning thenumber one spot. Geologists, dealers and min-ers rub shoulders with oilmen at all the biggesthotels in downtown Luanda, and Endiama reg-ularly releases details of new deals it has struckwith foreign diamond mining companies.

There can be little doubt that the diamondindustry is burgeoning. Industry sources saythat it is a lot safer and cheaper to makeinvestments and run operations in the dia-mond sector now that Angola is at peace.

“It is certainly a much more attractivebusiness opportunity today than it was in thepast. To give you an example, our operationcosts have significantly declined, as we cantransport most of the things we need by roadrather than using expensive air freight,” saysone business executive. “But as the climateimproves, the competition is hotting up. Thereare more and more companies wanting tocome into Angola now to get a piece of theaction.”

Endiama too has been reaping the divi-dends of peace. “Before [the end of the war]we were producing 2 to 4 million carats per

year, but we didn’t have an exact control of thesector so it was hard to tell,” says a seniorEndiama executive. “Today investors havemore security, they can now find Angolantechnicians who can work on projects and weare gaining more and more importance in theinternational market.”

As internal production continues to swell,Endiama has in the last few years been activelydeveloping its presence across the globe,opening new sales offices in Tel Aviv andAntwerp – with a third to be opened in HongKong and talk of yet another in New York. TheHong Kong branch sees the creation of a newcompany, Endiama China InternationalHolding Ltd, which will carry out diamondprospecting, exploration and trading in China,which is an increasingly important economicpartner to Angola.

“We want to start prospecting and explor-ing in China and then in the Asia–Pacific area.We want to sell diamonds in China but get intoother businesses through this, such as a pol-ishing factory and jewellery manufacture,”says a company executive. “We are thinkingabout how to invest in China through EndiamaChina Ltd. This is something we are studying”.

In October 2005, the industry added anoth-er rung to its ladder, with the opening of itsfirst diamond-polishing factory in Luanda’sTalatona district.

“If I’m anAfrican and Ihave diamondsin my Africanland, I want tosee an outputof thesediamonds togive work tomy people, notto otherpeople.”

Lev Leviev, Israeli diamond magnate

Superstar Mine

The hub of gem extractionin north-east Angola is theKimberlite mine nearSaurimo, Lunda Sul, whichwas started in early 1997 andproduced more than 2.6 mil-lion carats in 2001. Reservesare estimated at 60 millioncarats. Catoca is the world’sfourth biggest diamond pro-ducer and known for itshigh-quality gems.

The Catoca mine employs1,400 Angolans, most ofwhom come from Lunda Sul.Although Catoca is forgingahead in terms of production,it faces one big challenge: asa result of the destruction ofthe road and rail networks inthe war, all fuel and otheressential supplies have to beflown in from Luanda.

The post-independencegovernment did not benefitfrom diamond revenuesbecause during the 1990sUnita controlled diamondproduction in the Lundas,using the gems to fund itswar effort.

This has brought one clearbenefit to the province:Although the Lundas were acentre of rebel activity, therewas no intensive planting ofland mines in the areabecause Unita wanted to con-tinue exploit the diamonds.

HOPEFUL: workers in theinformal sector dig foralluvial diamonds, LundaNorte province

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Diamonds: the hard factsDiamonds are the hardest natural substance on earth, rat-

ing 10 on the Mohs scale, a standard that compares substancesby scratching one against the other. A diamond’s quality, andtherefore its value, is assessed according to four basic criteria:colour, clarity, carat and cut. Its hardness coupled with its neu-tral colour has elevated the diamond to the gem of choice forengagement rings. Poor quality stones, judged unfit for jew-ellery, are used in industrial processes.

COLOUR: The whiter a diamond appears, the higher its bril-liance, as light can travel unobstructed through the stone,whereas off-white stones cannot refract the full spectrum ofcolours. Stones are graded from D (completely colourless) to Z(strong yellow). The A, B, and C grades were initially left opento allow for stones whiter than D. A diamond’s value decreasesmoving down the alphabet, and at J the layman can easily dis-cern discolouration.

While this scale was set to grade white diamonds tendingtowards yellow, diamonds also occur in other colours includingpink, green, blue and red, but these are not usually included asthey are extremely rare, highly sought after and considerablymore expensive.

Coloured stones are still classified as diamonds because oftheir crystal structure and unique physical properties. They aretransparent and exhibit the same brilliance as their whitecounterparts. Black diamonds are completely opaque, and arethe least valuable of all gem-quality diamonds generally beingrelegated to industrial use.

CLARITY: Internal and external flaws in a diamond detractfrom its ability to refract light and thus compromise its value.Internal flaws refer to the presence of tiny cracks or uncrys-talised carbon within a diamond, known as inclusions. Adiamond is considered internally flawless if it has no suchblemishes visible under 20x magnification. Stones are gradeddownwards from IF (internally flawless) through VVS (very,

very slightly included), VS (very slight inclusions), SI (slightinclusions) to I (included). Between SI and I inclusions can easilybe perceived with the naked eye.

CARAT: Carat is the unit of measurement used for gemstones –not to be confused with the standard for classifying goldaccording to the percentage of gold in the alloy. Carat in thecontext of diamonds is a mass measurement: one carat is equalto 0.2 grams. Bigger diamonds are much harder to find andtherefore are much more expensive. In other words, a one-carat stone is more valuable than two half-carat diamonds. Aflawless diamond weighing more than 100 carats (2 grams) isknown as a paragon.

CUT: A diamond’s cut has two aspects – the view from aboveand the view from the side. The shape of the stone as viewedfrom above was traditionally always cut into rounds, butshapes have progressively become more experimental includ-ing ovals, pears (tear-drop), trillians (triangular), emerald(rectangular), princess (square), marquise (boat-shaped) andeven heart-shaped stones. A diamond’s side proportions influ-ence its brilliance and if a stone is cut too shallow or too deep,it can lose brilliance.

KIMBERLITE: Diamonds are categorised as either kimberlite oralluvial. Kimberlite diamonds form within vertical veins of kim-berlite rock, known as pipes. Alluvial diamonds are found inriverbed deposits or in the topsoil of old rivers. Due to the easewith which alluvial diamonds can be extracted, they are easilyopen to illicit exploitation. Indeed, conflict or ‘blood’ dia-monds, so called because they have financed rebel movementsacross Africa from Sierra Leone to Angola, are almost withoutexception alluvial diamonds.

In 2000, the Kimberly Process was initiated in an attempt toregulate global diamond trading and prevent the sale of dia-monds originating from conflict areas. Through the KimberlyProcess Certification Scheme, adopted in 2003, trade in conflictdiamonds has been reduced from 4 per cent to as little as1 percent.

Any Dream will DoThe big mining companies shift thousands of tonnes of soil in

their search for Kimberlite diamonds – but anyone could dip theirhand into a river in the Lundas, scoop up a handful of gravel and,with a bit of luck, find one of those highly-prized carbon crystalsnestling in their palm.

Alluvial diamonds are considered to be almost everywhere in theground of Lunda Sul and Lunda Norte, from the vast craters like thatof the Catoca mine a few kilometres from Saurimo to one of theclear fast-flowing streams in the countryside.

And if you do find one, it’s yours, subject to certain formalities.On the other hand, if you want to buy a diamond from one of theregistered dealers, that is no problem either.

One of the difficulties is the effort required to dig for them – andanother is knowing where to dig. Acquiring a concession is some-thing of a lottery and most of the truly promising areas are alreadycontrolled by the big operators, leaving only the more marginalprospects to the small investor.

Many local people work independently, but most successful

entrepreneurs on the informal market employ individuals to dig the

riverbeds and other likely spots in which the precious gems have

come to rest, in return for food and shelter.

The next step is to take the stones to one of the dealers in

Saurimo, or Lucapa and Dundo in Lunda Norte, or wait for a dealer

to make an approach. Malange city, approximately midway between

Luanda and the Lundas, is a favoured rendezvous.

All diamonds exported from Angola bear an official certificate,

whether from one of the mines or the so-called informal sector, and

all Angolan diamonds must be bought and sold through the state

diamond company, Endiama. If the stone is selected through a dealer

in the diamond fields, it must then be transferred to Endiama for cer-

tification and government duty paid.

But just as it is said that a girl has to kiss many frogs before she

finds her prince, usually, many tonnes of earth have to be sifted to

find a diamond. Sadly, the beautiful sparkler shown here is just a val-

ueless chip of quartz.

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The vast spread of Angola, from the remoteinterior to the Atlantic Ocean and from theCongo rainforests to the arid border withNamibia, has produced exceptional riches inrhythm and melody – and to match such gemsthere is an eclectic array of instruments whosesounds carry the music to the furthest cornersof the nation.

In fact, Angolan musical instruments are arare collection of odd and not-so-odd gadgets,simply crafted with the wisdom of sound –African sound – playing notes and rhythmsthat strike a chord in the roots of the soul.

Each assumes a specific role for which itwas crafted and is represented in almost allAngolan traditional events, ancient and mod-ern from storytelling, folklore, music and danceto meetings and special gatherings – even heal-ing rituals and in battle, as an instrument tocommunicate with soldiers or the enemy.

With the recent hostilities finally at an end,cultural events such as the Luanda Trienial arenow on the increase and with them, the redis-covery and revival of the musical instrumentsand their use in the contemporary Angolan artand music scene.

The National Museum of Anthropology inLuanda displays a collection of these pricelessartefacts, with the purpose of putting morevalue to them. As director AméricoKwononoka explains: “The reason for thisexposition is to give a boost to the makers ofthese beautiful instruments and those whoplay them, to preserve this legacy for the com-ing generations, and as an inspiring source forthe creation of the structural values for a truecultural identity.”

There are also displays of Angolan musicalinstruments in other museums, such as theRegional Museum of Huila in Lubango and theDundo Museum. Many are also displayed reg-ularly in exhibitions in international museumsas a testimony to their quality and relevance tomusic history.

Angolan musical instruments are alsoacknowledged by the oil industry as the namesof the wells in Block 15, offshore of Angola,operated by Exxonmobil: Xikomba, Hungo,Chocalho, Kissange, Dikanza and Mondo.Others yet to be discovered will also all bear

Angolan musical instrument names.As a result, the supermajor has sponsored

the publication of a fascinating book writtenby Vicente Pinto de Andrade and ManuelFernando: Angolan Society and Its TraditionalMusical Instruments: A sociological Perspective.

Membraphones, Idiophones,Cordophones and Aerophones

Of these, the most used and recognisable isthe drum, but the list of musical instrumentsis so diverse that there is a profusion of names,usages and types. Because of this diversity, it isusual to divide them into four types, accordingto the method by which they create theirsound: membraphones, idiophones, cordo-phones and aerophones.

This widely accepted classification wasmade by Curt Sachs and Erich von Hornbostelin 1914 and was followed by Portuguese eth-nologist José Redinha, who started researchingin Angola more than 70 years ago and haswritten many books about Angolan peopleand its culture.

Angola’s music defines thenation, enshrining the fibreof its culture, its aspirationsand its dreams – and thatmusic needs its own uniqueinstruments

MakingMusic

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Left and centre: The Marimba, perhaps the mostmusically rich Angolan instrument, ismade by master craftsmen, who areor were themselves players, usingspecially selected dense wood toproduce a sonorous sound. Thegourds of different sizes beneath thekeys vary the tone, and the Marimbacan be played by two or threepeople using wooden sticks

Right: The Kissanje is held in both handsand the strips of metal or bambooare played with the thumbs. Its sizeallows it to be carried during longtrips “to keep away solitude andwarm the heart with familiar sounds”

AUTUMN 2007 45

rhythm for the Capoeira street fight.There is also the Xikomba, a musical bow

usually made by a single string attached in awooden bow with a small gourd, and the verywidely known Kakoxe, a type of violin madewith two or three strings.

AerophonesIn this category, not very widely known in

Angola, there are different whistles, flutes, trum-pets and even a wind gourd. There are alsobeautiful long trumpets made from antelopehorns, such as those used by the Himbas people– and others made from carved wood and metallike the Mpungi, used by the Kikongos ethnicgroup. ❖


MembraphonesThe well known drum, or Ngoma in some

native languages or Batuque in Portuguese, ispart of the membraphones group, as it pro-duces sound through a membrane, made fromgoat or antelope skin, which is placed on theopening of a resonance box, usually made ofwood, and “calibrated” with resin from trees.

There are different types of drum accord-ing to their function, type of membrane andsize of resonance box, but all usually havecarved inscriptions to mark their relevance, orfor purely ornamental purposes.

Other types of drum are the Phwitas, to be

found along the coastline of Angola, used cen-turies ago for signalling in battle. This type ofdrum was also used to send messages betweentribes, due to the penetrating and loud soundit makes.

IdiophonesIn this group we find some of the most

important Angolan instruments such as theMarimba, a kind of xylophone made fromwood with different sizes of gourds attached,which produce a highly recognisable sound forall Angolans. They can be played by two orthree people using wood sticks similar to thefamiliar drumstick.

Then there is the Kissanje (or Mbira),Chisanji and Likembe, depending on theregion and its native language), one of the old-est which because of its portable size iscommonly carried during long trips “to keepaway the solitude and warm the heart withfamiliar sounds”. This instrument is made usu-ally by fixing metal blades in a plank of wood,and is played using the thumbs.

Another well-known instrument is theMondo, a big drum, almost a metre in length,carved from a single piece of wood and playedwith two drumsticks. This powerful instrumentis used mainly to communicate, since itssound carries for many miles.

Also among the Idiophones, is the simpleReco Reco (also known as the Lundamba orDikanza), made from a tree trunk, hollowedand carved with rims on the outside. Using asimple stick or rod, a grating sound is pro-duced, making this a very rhythmicalinstrument which is often used by modernmusicians.

In this category there are also several typesof very ornate rattle, made from differentmaterials like gourds or calabashes and filledtraditionally with seeds, that beat out therhythm.

CordophonesThese include musical bows, harps and

lyres, instruments that produce sound throughstrings attached to wooden bows or resonanceboxes. There is the Hungu, typically theLuanda musical bow played with a stick andfingers, made by attaching a metal string to awood bow with a gourd that serves as anacoustic box. According to Pinto de Andrade,these monochord bows come from a very bigfamily and are related to the Berimbau – wide-ly known in Brazil – frequently providing

Fire and Rhythm

The sound of chains on the roadsthe songs of birdsunder the humid greenery of the forestfreshness in the smooth symphonyof the palm treesfirefire on the grassfire on the heat of the Cayatte plainsWide pathsfull of people full of peoplean exodus from everywherewide paths to closed horizonsbut pathspaths open atopthe impossibility of armfiredancetamtamrhythm

Rhythm in lightrhythm in colourrhythm in movementrhythm in the bloody cracks of bare feetrhythm on torn nailsyet rhythmrhythm

Oh painful African voices

Sagrada Esperança (Sacred Hope)by Agostinho Neto (1922-1979)First President of Angola.

“The reason for this exposition is togive a boost to the makers of thesebeautiful instruments and thosewho play them, and to preserve thislegacy for the coming generations.”

Américo Kwononoka, Director National Museum of Anthropology, Luanda

Inset: the Cinguvu, used as anaccompaniment and to mark time,is crafted from large tree trunks

Below: various types of drum,including the Batuque, Pwhita andNgoma. Pwhitas were used tosend messages and to signal forbattle. The Ngoma produces itssound through a membrane madefrom goat or antelope skin

Traditional instruments include (clockwise from left):the Masokola, Marimba, Kissanje, Rattle, RecoReco and centre, the Cinguvu

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passion for the

MovingimageAs one of Angola’s first independentproducers, and a veteran reporter of theconflict years, Oscar Gil’s mission is thedevelopment of home-grown TVprogrammes and film production

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NNumber Five on Rua Rainha Ginga sits inconspicuouslyacross the street from the Jornal de Angola offices in downtownLuanda, a few doors from a passport photo shop and one blockfrom the historic Lello bookstore. The heavy glass and wood-frame door is unmarked and unlocked, opening easily with apush on the round brass handle.

Stepping in, the interior could be a small-town museum or anantique shop, the walls lined with historic gramophones and filmcameras, stacks of film canisters and old-time radios.

Figurines and posters of classic icons throughout the studiocompete for attention: Marilyn Monroe, the Beatles, JimiHendrix, Laurel and Hardy, Bob Marley. The winner seems to beCharlie Chaplin, whose surprised face gazes silently out over thetripods and record players all over the studio.

From across the partition that separates the front door fromthe rest of the high-ceilinged room, a voice booms out. This isOscar Gil.

He is a large man. Large in size and in voice, large in ideas. InAngola’s embryonic film and audiovisual industry, Oscar GilProduções is unquestionably one of the leading video and filmproduction houses. Gil sweeps his arm in welcome to the studiohe has built over the last six years. His salt-and-pepper hair and

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In 2000 and 2001, Oscar GilProduções won the Grande Premiode Publicidade for greatest achieve-ment in the advertising category,and in 2003, Gil’s educational mini-series about HIV/Aids CaminhosCruzados (Crossed Paths) wasawarded the National CultureAward in the category of film andaudiovisual.

Advertising is the bread andbutter of Oscar Gil Produções, butof greater attraction to Gil are thefiction projects he has been workingon lately. Vidas a Preto e Branco(Lives in Black and White) is a mini-series about a young womanwhose discovery of being HIV-positive turns her into a victim ofdiscrimination by friends and col-leagues, and forces her to faceboth her condition and therejection of those she trusted.

Desenraizados (Uprooted) is afeature-length film for which Gil isin pre-production. It tells the story of a youngwoman who flees her village, together with herfather and brother, to escape the armed con-flict of the war. Uprooted and arriving in thecapital city, the tiny family is torn apart by thetrials that survival puts them through.

Though Gil has not been able to secure allthe financing to produce the film, he hopes tocomplete it by the end of the year.

The big question for both of these projectsis the market. Until recently, Angolan publictelevision has seemed reluctant to screen fic-tion work from local independent productioncompanies. TPA being the only currently exist-ing local channel, the local distribution of bothGil’s mini-series and his film will be limited towhat TPA is prepared to buy. For that reason,Gil has already started making contacts withRTP Africa and TV Cinque to seek distributionin other African countries.

“But the mini-series Look is finished – andpeople want to see local productions,” arguesGil optimistically. “TPA is under new manage-ment, and these are guys who should see[independent] producers not as competitors,but as partners. As long as there is a monopolyof television there is no evolution. If we hadmore channels we would have more competi-tion, and greater competition leads to betterquality.”

Although the number of independent pro-ducers has increased since 2002 and there arenow more than 20 independent productionhouses in Angola, most rely on commissionsfor commercial videos and advertising. “Noproducer works just to feed his ego – he has toearn a living like anybody else,” says Gil. But,nevertheless, he sees this as the opportunetime for the market to open up for local fictionwork like his own.

“Angolans still see their country as war-torn – completely destroyed and in recovery.But look at us: in four years Angola hasbecome one of the fastest-growing economies.Now we have to engage the population withnew messages, help them to know more abouttheir own country, its cultural differences. Ifwe can understand our cultural differences, wewill then like each other more.

“Almost every home here now has a satel-lite dish,” says Gil. “Dishes have exposed eventhe poorest Angolans to the worlds of Portugal,Brazil and South Africa, but there is nothingAngolan to offer. People want to see their livesportrayed – to see their personal experiencestreated in stories on TV.”

“Our obligation is to show that Angola isbeautiful,” he says. “Leave it to others outsideto show the ugly side.” ❖


his circle beard are cropped short; his green,loose-fitting safari shirt spreads gently over acomfortable stomach.

“This is my journey,” he remarks, gesturingto the black-and-white photographs mixed inamong the decorative paraphernalia on thestudio walls.

The first image is that of Gil with his filmcrew of two in the Angolan bush, all dressed infatigues and squinting into the sun. “This wasmy first job as a TV reporter in Cunene duringthe war – and here, my first film camera, theCP16,” he says, pointing to a gangly tripod onwhich is balanced an antiquated camerawhich is gathering dust under the photogallery – a collectable among collectables. “Iused this to film the invasions of the SouthAfrican mercenaries on the northern front.”

The life story told by Gil’s tour reveals howhis journey equipped him with the skills andexperiences to do what he does, and what heaspires to do today. For years Gil dreamt ofhaving his own production house to make fic-tion films. But with only one government-runtelevision station, one poorly equipped movietheatre and a tiny under-funded arts commu-nity, Angola is a discouraging place in which tohave such ambition, though some new cine-mas have opened in recent years.

Unhindered by these local constraints, Gilhas plans and projects. He believes in makingfilms about Angola, by Angolans, for Angolansand for world audiences – and he is pushingothers to think his way. “We artists in televi-sion and cinema, we can use the audiovisualarts to make parallel diplomacy,” he says.

Gil emphasises the duty he and his peershave as pioneers in Angolan film and video.Coverage of Angola tends to focus on the coun-try’s problems, but by producing stories thatreveal the country in greater detail, people candiscover other facets to a country in rebirth –what Gil means by parallel diplomacy.

He got his start when Angola was beingreborn out of the Portuguese regime. In 1975,as colonists began gathering their belongingson the airport tarmac, the activist cell of theMovimento Popular de Libertação de Angola(MPLA) assigned young recruits to train in sec-tors that previously had only been open to thePortuguese.

Working in the nascent national communi-cations unit, Gil became one of the country’sfirst class of reporters, writers and TV produc-ers. In the months leading up to

independence, German and French televisionteams gave intensive technical training to thenew contingent of Angolan journalists andproducers, knowing that these were the youngmen and women who would constitute thenew nation’s television network, TelevisãoPopular de Angola (TPA).

Gil learnt camera work and reporting,together with soundman Artur Neves, (later tobecome a prominent promoter of Angolanmusic), capturing the scenes and celebrationsof independence that filled Luanda’s streets onIndependence Day, November 11, 1975.

Gil then went on to become responsible forcoverage of the war in the southern provincesof Cunene, Namibe and Huila, hauling aroundthe earliest bulky video cameras to shootimages of skirmishes and proxy battlesbetween Cubans, South Africans and Angolantroops. He filmed the South African incursionsacross the Angola-Namibia border, includingthe infamous Massacre of Cassinga, whenmore than 600 people were killed in and near arefugee camp in Huila province.

“I filmed most of the invasions in thesouth,” he explains. “We were reporters, butwe were also troops, wearing uniforms andcarrying arms, though really, our cameras wereour weapons.”

Motivated partly for family and health rea-sons, Gil decided to leave his colourfulreporting career in 1981 and head to Portugal.There he got work as a cameraman on soapoperas, advertising and documentaries. Someof these international projects took him toremote and exotic destinations around theworld. “The 20 years I was in Portugal were auniversity for me – I learnt how to handle fic-tional subject matter, working with goodBrazilian and Portuguese directors,” he says.

By 1999 Gil was ready for his return toAngola to pursue his dream, propelled by hisambition to build a production company andstart on some of the Angolan projects he hadconjured in his mind. Today, the evidence ofwhat he has done is visible throughout the stu-dio of Oscar Gil Produções.

Besides the photo gallery and the videoand film memorabilia, a back room holds fiveconsoles where his staff edits video and film.Behind the receptionist is a circular table hold-ing a handful of awards, mostly foroutstanding achievements in advertisinggranted through Angola’s national Premio TVCCommission.

ON LOCATION:

Oscar Gil (right) with journalist ZeManuel Rodriguez and cameraassistant Mesquita in Cahama,Cunene province

“We werereporters, butwe were alsotroops,wearinguniforms andcarrying arms,though really,our cameraswere ourweapons.”

Oscar Gil, Angolan film producer

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forms part of Angola’s border with Namibia.At this stage, the group has three hectares

of vines under cultivation. “All of them arefrom South Africa,” says Martinho. “Eventhough some are to be found all over theworld, we felt that the experience of a countryon the same continent and famous for thequality of its wine made our choice the safeone for our project.”

From the start, the progress of thisgroundbreaking scheme has involved an inno-vative approach, with the necessity to adaptthe grape varieties to match the Cunene cli-mate. “Already production is higher than weexpected by around six or seven tonnes perhectare,” says da Silva. “Around 30 per cent ofthe vines are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot andShiraz.”

Last year showed the first significant profitfrom the two harvests in 12 months, andalready the vineyard is looking to expand tojust under 20 hectares. By any standards, thisis an exciting project for the 23-strong team,20 of whom are Angolan, with two Braziliantechnical experts.

The first vintage, just 180 litres, has been

declared to be of surprisingly good quality.“The Merlot and Shiraz output had a sugarlevel of 14 per cent from three 150-metre rowsof vines,” says Martinho. “We consider this tobe an excellent first result.”

Like all winegrowers, he knows that thereis a short lifetime of opportunity to fine-tunethe making of Angola’s first homegrown wine.But all the indications are that the initial suc-cess of this small enterprise could grow,provide more jobs and put the country’s nameon the map for something other than oil.

And, who knows – Cunene could one daybe a name that challenges famous SouthAfrican brands. ❖

The increasingly stable environment ofAngola has seen the steady blossoming ofthe entrepreneurial spirit everywhere in thecountry, with some brave souls prepared todip their toes into the water of economicoptimism.

Some go for the re-establishment of tra-ditional activities such as coffee or riceproduction, but others have spotted newpossibilities in Angola’s agricultural sector,which with the right expertise can offerconsiderable potential to supply an

increasingly affluent home market and gen-erate export revenues.

One such initiative is the production ofwine in the Xangogo region close to theCunene River in southern Angola.

In colonial days, there was a law forbid-ding the planting of grapes for wineproduction in Angola in order to protectsales of the colonial rulers’ domestic pro-duction – a fact that tends to prove thepotential. Indeed, in the last four years, onenew project initiated by a business grouphas already delivered very promisingresults in a region especially suited for cer-tain types of grape.

“The land here is ideal,” says projectmanager Paulo Martinho. “The terrain iswell drained with just the right soil condi-tions, and enough rain when needed.”

The enterprise, which started in 2003, ismanaged by Pilartes da Silva, a Brazilian,and Martinho, who is a winegrower fromPortugal. After trials to find the ideal envi-ronment, the team settled on a spot about110km from the provincial capital Ondjiva.The new vineyard, Tchianda Farm, is locat-ed on the banks of the Cunene River which

AUTUMN 2007 51

countryWine

of the

The Portuguese havea noble tradition ofwinemaking – but

only recently has anenterprising groupchosen to develop

the promise ofAngola’s favourableclimatic conditions

in Cunene province

Cabernet SauvignonCabernet Sauvignon is a variety of red

grape mainly used for wine production andis, along with Chardonnay, one of themost widely planted of world grape vari-eties.

Many of the red wines regarded asamong the world’s greatest, such as RedBordeaux, are predominantly made fromCabernet Sauvignon grapes. World-classexamples can improve for decades andremain drinkable for a century.

The Cabernet Sauvignon grape’s par-ticularly thick skin results in wines thatcan be high in tannin which provides bothstructure and ageability. As a group,Cabernet Sauvignon wines are generallyfull-flavoured – stronger than Merlot andwith a smooth and lingering finish.

Cabernet Sauvignon has a welldefined aroma, and the grape’s mostnotable success over the past decade hasbeen its use in the wines of the NewWorld where consistently optimal cli-mates, strong investment and innovative

winemaking techniques have allowedcountries such as South Africa, NewZealand and Australia to produce verygood, and at times, outstanding qualityCabernet Sauvignon-based wines at com-petitive prices.

ShirazThe name of the Shiraz grape comes

from the city of Shiraz in Iran, close towhere the process of wine making possi-bly originated 7,000 years ago. Historicaccounts state that the Syrah/Shiraz wasbrought into southern France by a return-ing crusader, Guy De Sterimberg. Hebecame a hermit and developed a vine-yard on a steep hill where he lived in theRhône Valley. It became known as theHermitage.

Wines made from Shiraz are oftenquite powerfully flavoured and full-bodiedand the variety widely used to make a dryred table wine – but many premium Shiraz-based wines are at their best after beingaged for perhaps 10 to15 years in cellar.

MerlotMerlot-based wines usually have

medium body with hints of berry, plumand currant. Its softness and “fleshiness”,combined with its earlier ripening, makesMerlot an ideal grape to blend with thesterner, later-ripening CabernetSauvignon.

The name comes from the Frenchregional patois word merlot which meansyoung blackbird – thought to be becauseof the grape’s dark-blue colour, or per-haps the bird’s fondness for the fruit.

Merlot is produced chiefly in France,Italy and California, and on a lesser scalein Australia, Argentina, Chile, NewZealand and South Africa. It grows inmany regions that also grow CabernetSauvignon, but tends to be cultivated inthe cooler parts of those areas. In the tra-ditional Bordeaux blend, Merlot’s role is toadd body and softness, but one of themost famous and rare wines in the world,Château Pétrus, is almost all Merlot.

Prime Selection

A G R I C U L T U R E

“The landhere is ideal.The terrain iswell drainedwith just theright soilconditions,and enoughrain whenneeded.”

Paulo Martinho, Project manager

(far left)

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Documents

Universo ANGOLA |OIL BUSINESS - sonangol.co.ao · Universo ANGOLA |OIL BUSINESS | CULTURE ISSUE 15 AUTUMN 2007 SMELLING SWEET: The Rosa field comes on stream SEEING GREEN:the oil