In the highly competitive oil and gas sector, any inefficiency could result in missed opportunities and lost revenue. For a newly decreed national agency overseeing oil and gas production in Angola, a total digital transformation of core systems has established a solid platform for achieving its mandate.
Agencia Nacional de Petroleo, Gás e Biocombustiveis (ANPG) is the national petroleum, gas, and biofuels agency of Angola. ANPG was created by Presidential decree in 2019 to maximise value creation for the Angolan state through efficient and responsible management of the country’s oil and gas resources.
A core function of ANPG is its role as national concessionaire, in which it is tasked with regulating, supervising, and promoting the execution of petroleum activities in Angola.
“A key objective of our digital transformation project was to gain total independence from the previous concessionaire within a strict project timeline and with no disruption,” says Antono Paixão,Coordinator for IT operations and infrastructure and SAP strategy lead at ANPG. “At the same time, we wanted to simplify our processes and unlock greater innovation across our operations.”
Angola is the second-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa, producing 1.37-million barrels per day in addition to substantial natural gas production. Exports of oil and gas accounts for the vast majority of the country’s exports and more than half of Angola’s GDP.
ANPG approached SAP and PwC to implement a full digital transformation of core systems and business processes, with SAP S/4HANA as the intelligent core and several integrated SAP solutions to support key business processes. The entire solution is hosted in a hybrid cloud environment using SAP HEC and Microsoft Azure.
“The implementation covered financial processes including accounts payable, receivables, asset accounting, tax, cost centre and risk management, as well as procurement, human capital management, payroll and performance management,” says Antonio Paixão. “Our six-month implementation resulted in 623 of our team being onboarded to the new systems, with 70 additional users planned for the near future.”
To reduce implementation time and control costs, the implementation team kept custom development to a minimum. “We also acquired SAP Application Management Services and Enhanced Managed Services to support our small internal team, and followed the SAP Activate methodology to guarantee that time constraints and quality standards were met throughout the implementation.”
Following a successful go-live, ANPG has unlocked substantial business benefits that has transformed the business. “Employees have gained a modern user experience in line with global best practice, and our standardised processes help drive greater efficiency throughout our operations. More than 35 of our business processes are now fully automated, and we have achieved complete operational independence from the previous concessionaire.”
A standout to the success of the project was the board and management team’s support and involvement. “Our entire management structure is actively using the new system, and we have embedded a culture of learning within our teams with the learning management system. Today, our end-users have complete mobility to perform their work tasks from anywhere, with further innovation planned, specifically around our enterprise contract management and funds management capabilities.”
João Eanes, Sales Manager for Lusophone Africa at SAP, says: “Tasked with a mandate vital to the economic growth and development of one of Africa’s most important oil-producing countries, ANPG has achieved a landmark digital transformation that will support its operations for years to come. By adopting the latest digital technologies and integrating them to a market-leading digital core, ANPG is well on its way to achieving intelligent enterprise capabilities that will help ensure its long-term success.”
