Luanda: The minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, reiterated last Thursday the entire availability of Angola to work with the hydrocarbon sector in the DR Congo, with public and private entities in that neighbouring country.
The Angolan official, who spoke at the meeting to analyze the state of relations in the hydrocarbons sector of Angola and the DRC, considered it to be a joint mechanism for the marketing of petroleum products between the two countries, in order to combat fraud and smuggling of fuel.
At the meeting, the decision to develop a roadmap on the upcoming steps for the implementation of the Common Interest Zone (ZIC) project and the creation of a joint commission for its technical monitoring deserved attention.
The two delegations encouraged their national companies (Sonangol and Sonahydroc) to continue the discussions and make concrete proposals, as well as the holding of a new meeting in January 2021, at a location to be agreed.
To fortify a relationship in the hydrocarbon sector in the two countries, there was discussion about the inventory and assessment of the ZIC, as well as the sale of petroleum products.
The DRC delegation was chaired by that country's minister of State and Hydrocarbons, Rubens Mikindo, while the Angolan side was chaired by the minister for Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, which encouraged the two companies (Sonangol and Sonahydroc) to continue their discussions and make concrete proposals.
Despite Covid-19, Angola and the DRC have taken safe and effective steps, considering the legal and technical instruments the countries have on the matter.
Diamantino Azevedo said that the meeting demonstrated the two countries' commitment and dedication to common project, given the existing political and paradigmatic dynamics, generated by synergies over the common oil exploration of deep waters in the lower Congo basin.
The meeting analyzed the problem of the reciprocal use of the countries' territorial waters, through the study of the hydrocarbon potential of the ZIC and its economic viability in benefit of both countries.
The understanding of the common oil exploitation of waters in the lower Congo basin was signed in June 2003, between the governments of Angola and the DRC, which served for the creation of a common maritime corridor for oil exploration, defined by Areas of Common Interest Zone.
