* Angola eyes higher stakes in Portuguese firms
* 2008 oil revenues soar 53 percent
* Sonangol delays listing owing to global crisis
(Adds buying 29.9 percent of Millennium Angola paras 11-12)
By Henrique Almeida
LUANDA, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Low oil prices will not affect producer Angola's resolve to carry out multi-billion dollar investments at home and raise stakes in Portuguese firms, the head of state-owned firm Sonangol said on Wednesday.
"We are used to price volatility in the oil market and remain committed to our long-term investments," Manuel Vicente told reporters.
Sonangol plans to build a new $8 billion oil refinery in Lobito and another plant in Soyo to help satisfy growing demand for gasoline in an economy that has been growing in double digits since the end of a civil war in 2002.
Its only existing 65,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery in Luanda is also being revamped to increase production to 100,00 barrels per day.
Vicente said Sonangol was also committed to building Angola's first liquefied natural gas plant at a cost of $4 billion.
Oil producers are struggling to deal with a drop of over $100 per barrel for oil since July. OPEC-member Angola has joined in the group's output cuts aimed at putting an end to falling prices.
Vicente said Angola should produce 1.656 million barrels of oil per day in 2009, down from a high of two million barrels last year.
Angola, which rivals Nigeria as sub-Saharan Africa's biggest oil producer and is also the acting president of OPEC, had seen its 2008 revenues rise 53 percent from the previous year to $26.6 billion.
Sonangol's net profit rose 30 percent to $2.9 billion last year.
The state-run company's war-chest of $4 to $5 billion to invest at home and abroad this year means it can increase its 10 percent stake in Portugal's largest listed bank, Millennium bcp ..
"If necessary, we will increase (our stake). It is in times of crisis that one can grow," Vicente said. Millennium bcp announced late on Wednesday that Sonangol had bought 29.9 percent of its subsidiary in Angola.
Millennium bcp closed up 1.17 percent on Wednesday at 0.60 euros. Vicente said Sonangol was planning to set up an office in Lisbon to also carry out new investments in the real-estate sector in Portugal.
NO LISTING
Harder times will however delay plans for Sonangol to enter the stock market and a busy political calendar in 2009 should put off plans to hold a round of bidding for new oil block concessions in Angola, Vicente said.
"The financial crisis requires that we re-think these plans," said Vicente. "We have recently witnessed giants fall like sheets of paper.
Analysts said the Luanda stock market was unlikely to open in 2009 because of Sonangol's decision not to float its shares in the market. Sonangol is Angola's biggest company.
Vicente signalled that bidding for offshore oil blocks, which was suspended before parliamentary elections in 2008, should remain on hold until presidential elections in the second half of the year.
"In an industry like ours, a government that is ending its mandate cannot hand out new concessions. It isn't cordial to do so," he said.
Chevron, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Total have all said they were interested in expanding their exploration and production activities in Angola -- each already pump over 500,000 barrels of oil per day from Angola's offshore reserves.
(Editing by William Hardy)