ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 examines whether NCR can explain the differences and relative success and failure of China and India in their respective efforts to mobilise oil in the oil industry in Angola. The chapter does a case study ‘pattern matching’ of Angola in West Africa. The chapter is divided into four sections. Section I provides a brief background of Angola and discusses the oil industry in Angola, the oil reserves and production and the problems plaguing the oil industry. Section II compares and contrasts the political, diplomatic and economic relations of India and China respectively with Angola. It highlights that India’s economic, political and diplomatic engagement with Angola is dwarfed by China’s engagement with Angola. Section III discusses the oil blocks bid for and acquired by India and China in Angola. It investigates if Chinese and Indian oil companies entered into direct competitive bidding for the oil blocks and if the former outbid the latter, the number of oil blocks that oil companies from the two countries have bid for and acquired and the nature or type of Indian and Chinese oil companies that are operating in the oil industry in Angola. It also examines the quality of the oil blocks acquired by oil companies from the two countries. Section IV provides a brief analysis of India’s and China’s interaction in the oil industry in Angola.
