on the eve of portuguese angola's independence from portugal following the carnation revolution and the election of a democratic government in portugal in 1976, the company angol (angol "sociedade de lubrificantes e combustíveis" sarl), founded in 1953 as a subsidiary of portuguese company sacor) was nationalized and split in two, forming sonangol u.e.e. and direcção nacional de petróleos. directive 52/76 instituted sonangol as a state-owned company with a mandate to manage the country's substantial petroleum and natural gas. using the extant remains of texaco, total, shell and mobil's oil works, sonangol obtained the assistance of algerian sonatrach and of italian eni.