"I can say and guarantee that 80% of the foreign investors who kept knocking on our door are focused on the existence of oil and do not even want to hear that there will be no oil", stressed Osvaldo D'Abreu, saying that he noted this during the four years [2018-2022] in which he was Minister of Infrastructure and Natural Resources.

Oil is an asset "that we have not been able to take advantage of, stated the former minister who spoke at the launch of his book, "Oil in São Tomé and Príncipe: the effects of the expectations generated in economic agents".

Osvaldo D'Abreu is a politician from the São Tomé and Príncipe Liberation Movement/Social Democratic Party (MLSTP-PSD) and was a minister in the 15th and 17th governments of the archipelago.

The work resulted from his doctoral thesis and addresses the way in which oil interacts with society and how it has transformed the country since 1997 to the present day, and contains evidence of "how oil revenues suddenly fell" in the coffers of the São Tomé state at a time when the archipelago still had "almost nothing" on oil production.

He cited as an example four million dollars in 1997/98 invested by oil companies, 49 million dollars, in 2004, from the first auction of the joint zone between São Tomé and Príncipe and Nigeria and 27 million dollars, in 2007, from the second auction of the same joint zone "and other pairs of millions that were falling" from the companies and throughout the process in the Exclusive Economic Zone.

"When we say whether or not we are going to discover oil, the effect of oil is present, it has always been present throughout these more than 20 years in us, in our society", defended Osvaldo D'Abreu.

According to the former minister, the information "began to originate from the outside in", including one "that reported an index of hydrocarbon accumulation that exceeded five to 10 million barrels of reserves" in São Tomé and Príncipe, which aroused the interest of several investors in the archipelago.

As a result, the country became better known, more open to the world, with new investments, agencies, aviation companies, banks, civil construction, tourism and many jobs, he said.

The former governor stressed, however, that many "investors were distressed" and continue to take into account the non-materialization of the prospects for oil discovery in the archipelago, warning that changes are necessary.

"The problem that arises is how to deal with this process in a responsible, conscious way, having the information that we already had, to avoid the mistakes that we have already made and to make better use of it, including the expectations that continue to emerge", he said.

Speaking to journalists, he pointed out that "the document on the sector's strategy was drawn up 20 years ago", that the joint exploration zone with Nigeria is not the same now, namely "in terms of prospects, expectations, companies interested, revenues, human resources", and also because the Exclusive Economic Zone does not have "the geography it had 10 years ago, 20 years ago".

The former Prime Minister of São Tomé (2028-2022) Jorge Bom Jesus, who attended the book presentation, also defended that it is necessary to "find alternatives", admitting that "oil continues to be a great spring that moves the hope of any poor person", and could be the "miracle" for the archipelago.

In October 2022, the Galp and Shell consortium confirmed "the existence of an active oil system" in São Tomé and Príncipe, but with no evidence that "it has a sufficiently large recoverable potential to be commercial".

Leia Também: 25 de Abril? Portugal "pôs-se do lado certo da História" (Portuguese version)