The ongoing restructuring programme at Angolan state oil company Sonangol has reduced the company’s logistics costs by half, the chair of the Board of Directors said in Houston, Texas on Wednesday.

Isabel dos Santos, after arguing that the businesses must re-focus on its core business of oil and natural gas exploration, said her board’s main objectives were to increase the State’s supervisory reach, as the main shareholder, increasing profit and efficiency as well as transparency, improving management and strengthening Angola’s competitive position.

Driving home the idea of ​​returning to the company’s core activity, Santos cited examples of other major oil companies that are divesting in marginal areas to focus on the oil and natural gas business.

Santos was speaking at the CERAWeek international energy conference, taking place from 6 to 10 March in Houston, which brings together the world’s largest companies in the sector under the theme of, “Pace of Change: Building a New Energy Future. ”

On the sidelines of the conference, Isabel dos Santos told financial news agency Bloomberg that Angola supports the possibility of extending the agreement on cuts in oil production by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) beyond the first half of this year.

OPEC members and another 11 other oil producing countries agreed in 2016 to reduce production, leading to a 17% increase in prices in the US in the last five weeks of 2016. (macauhub)