State-owned companies

Washington D.C. – It is a sad and perverse paradox of today’s global economy that some of the very wealthiest developing countries are also the very poorest. Countries possessing an abundance of diamonds, gold, oil, gas and exotic minerals can barely feed, clothe, let alone educate, the bulk of their populations which suffer among the highest infant mortality rates and shortest average life span in the world. War and civil strife, not peace, are the norm in many of these resource- rich but troubled areas.

Who holds the world’s oil? You might assume it’s in the hands of big private oil companies like ExxonMobil. But in fact, 77 percent of the world’s oil reserves are held by national oil companies with no private equity, and there are 13 state-owned oil companies with more reserves than ExxonMobil, the largest multinational oil company. The popular perception in the United States is that if leaders of oil countries nationalize their oil, they are bucking a global trend toward privatization.

This report reveals that more than four billion dollars in state oil revenue disappeared from Angolan government coffers from 1997-2002, roughly equal to the entire sum the government spent on all social programs in the same period, and examines how this has negatively affected the political, economic, social and cultural rights of Angolan citizens.

European banks are setting up a huge new oil-backed loan for Angola, one of the most corrupt and impoverished countries in the world. The deal will further mortgage the country’s future oil income and undermine international efforts to make the government more accountable.