With the project 'Oil Venture Beneath the Surface' DanWatch sheds light on the largest Danish oil investment south of the Sahara - namely AP Moller Maersk's oil operations in Angola. Maersk Oil, a subsidiary of A.P. Moller-Maersk, has been present in the Angolan oil sector since 2005 and has invested about three billion Danish kroner the in search of Angolan oil.

In less than ten years Angola has become a very important oil country globally. The country's oil income has exploded. But still the country's general population remains in poverty. According to a number of international sources this is related to the fact that the country's government is riddled with corruption. Maersk Oil's activities in a country like Angola is interesting because the company thereby has established close links with actors who are accused of systematic corruption - while AP Moller-Maersk has zero tolerance policy on corruption. The purpose of DanWatch's study is to investigate how Maersk Oil manages to be close to corruption in a country like Angola, while living up to its own standards of social responsibility and anti-corruption.