Angola's oil accounts for 2008 shows discrepancies amounting to billions of dollars and millions of barrels, according to a London-based anti-corruption watchdog.
There is an $8.55 billion discrepancy between data published by the state-owned Sonangol and the ministries of petroleum and finance, said a report published Monday by Global Witness.
The three organizations used different production volumes, average prices and exchange rates to calculate 2008 oil revenue. Sonangol's own data implies an average oil sale price in 2008 of less than $49 a barrel, when other agencies were reporting average prices above $90 a barrel, the report said.
Sonangol's exports were worth less than $12 billion or more than $22 billion, depending on the sale prices and exchange rates are used.
The ministry of finance also reported 87 million fewer barrels exported than the petroleum ministry in 2008, the latest year for which figures were available.
Signature and other bonuses paid by oil companies to the government appear to be poorly reported in official documents, the report said.
Global Witness said it had written to the the two ministries to ask them how their published figures are constructed, and had written to Sonangol on various occasions seeking comment about oil industry issues in Angola, but had not received a response.
According to a Platts survey, Angola pumped 1.73 million b/d in November higher than its implied OPEC quota of 1.65 million b/d, making it the second biggest producer in Africa after Nigeria.
Oil accounted for 59% of government revenues in 2009, which is the equivalent to just under $25 billion in oil revenues according to the government's figures.
But despite the billions of dollars earned by Angola each year from oil, most of its approximately 19 million people continue to be submerged in poverty.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been raising concerns since at least the mid-1990s about lack of transparency in Angola's oil sector.
"The opacity of Angolan oil revenues was also a catalyst for the international 'Publish What You Pay campaign', initiated by Global Witness and the Open Society Institute," the report said.
Angola's offshore oil production is almost entirely dependent on foreign companies which have invested heavily in expensive, deepwater oil fields.
There is an $8.55 billion discrepancy between data published by the state-owned Sonangol and the ministries of petroleum and finance, said a report published Monday by Global Witness.
The three organizations used different production volumes, average prices and exchange rates to calculate 2008 oil revenue. Sonangol's own data implies an average oil sale price in 2008 of less than $49 a barrel, when other agencies were reporting average prices above $90 a barrel, the report said.
Sonangol's exports were worth less than $12 billion or more than $22 billion, depending on the sale prices and exchange rates are used.
The ministry of finance also reported 87 million fewer barrels exported than the petroleum ministry in 2008, the latest year for which figures were available.
Signature and other bonuses paid by oil companies to the government appear to be poorly reported in official documents, the report said.
Global Witness said it had written to the the two ministries to ask them how their published figures are constructed, and had written to Sonangol on various occasions seeking comment about oil industry issues in Angola, but had not received a response.
According to a Platts survey, Angola pumped 1.73 million b/d in November higher than its implied OPEC quota of 1.65 million b/d, making it the second biggest producer in Africa after Nigeria.
Oil accounted for 59% of government revenues in 2009, which is the equivalent to just under $25 billion in oil revenues according to the government's figures.
But despite the billions of dollars earned by Angola each year from oil, most of its approximately 19 million people continue to be submerged in poverty.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been raising concerns since at least the mid-1990s about lack of transparency in Angola's oil sector.
"The opacity of Angolan oil revenues was also a catalyst for the international 'Publish What You Pay campaign', initiated by Global Witness and the Open Society Institute," the report said.
Angola's offshore oil production is almost entirely dependent on foreign companies which have invested heavily in expensive, deepwater oil fields.
