Malongo port is key element of Angola petroleum industry

MALONGO, Angola -- The heart of Angola's booming petroleum industry beats in Cabinda, a detached fragment of Angolan territory where soldiers from Cuba once guarded American oil men against attack -- by U.S.-backed guerrillas.

Within this strategically important enclave, U.S. oil company ChevronTexaco and its predecessor, Gulf Oil, pumped crude during all but a few months of Angola's 27-year civil war. Oil is Angola's main export, and until recent discoveries were made further south, Cabinda was Angola's primary source.

The 2,800-square-mile province is separated from the Angolan mainland by a wedge of the neighboring Republic of Congo. ChevronTexaco bases its operations here in the port of Malongo, a company town whose 1,200 residents are cordoned off from the rest of Cabinda by minefields and barbed wire.

Cabinda had a special significance during the Cold War. Angola's pro-Soviet government depended on exports of Cabindan oil to pay for its struggle against UNITA guerrillas. Gulf Oil, which became part of Texaco and finally ChevronTexaco, was crucial to the government's war effort, and Cuban forces protected its employees against attack by the guerrillas and their South African allies.

But the United States supported UNITA, and Congress threatened to punish American companies operating in Angola.

"Here we were an American company protected by Cuban troops and sanctioned by our home government. It was a bit of an absurd situation," said Daniel Rocha, ChevronTexaco's manager at Malongo.

"At the same time, we were the only moneymaking source for the Angolan government, so they took very good care of us."

The civil war ended officially Aug. 2, and the Cubans left Malongo long before then. But a different threat remains, this one from rebels seeking autonomy for this oil-rich province.

The Angolan military has generally confined the guerrillas, known by their Portuguese acronym FLEC, to remote inland areas since they launched their fight for independence after colonial power Portugal withdrew from Angola in 1975. Yet fears of a guerrilla ambush or kidnapping have forced employees here to continue living in a state of double isolation.

Not only is Cabinda cut off from the Angolan mainland, but the danger from FLEC stops residents of Malongo from driving beyond the gates of the camp. Food and equipment are shipped in from the Angolan capital, Luanda, and employees journey to and from this tropical base by boat or helicopter.

Most people here work for ChevronTexaco, operator of oil wells in an offshore area called "Block 0." ChevronTexaco has a 39.2 percent stake in the Cabinda Gulf Oil Co. Ltd., a joint venture that controls the block's daily output of 450,000 barrels of crude. Oil from offshore fields is piped here for treatment, storage and export.

The laid-back atmosphere at Malongo gives few hints of the scale of this activity. Egrets strut in the grass among parked helicopters, and clusters of screeching bats hang like coconuts from trees outside the main office building.

The overwhelmingly male population works 12-hour shifts, six days a week. "It's taxing," said Manuel Gracas de Deus, the camp's health and safety manager.

In their limited free time, Malongo's residents can lift weights at the gym or meet at the wine-tasting club. On Sundays, many head for the golf links or go fishing for barracuda after religious services led by churchmen who visit from outside the camp.

"People here love to cook, especially the guys from Louisiana," Rocha said.