As reported by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Oil and Gas of Angola (MIREMPET), the talks are led by the Minister Diamantino Azevedo and his Congolese counterpart, Didier Budimbu Ntubuanga, in order to advance understandings on the ZIC.

Both authorities will be accompanied by experts from the two ministries, as well as from the concessionary entities and the respective public companies in the sector, the Angolan company Sonangol and its Congolese counterpart Cohidro.

This Tuesday’s meeting in Luanda will have the contributions of the bilateral technical group established by both parties to examine the issue of joint exploration and production of hydrocarbons in the ZIC, under the cooperation protocol signed in 2003, the source said.

MIREMPET reported on a similar meeting in the capital back in February 2022, in which it shared technical information with its counterpart from Democratic Congo.

The Secretary of State for Oil and Gas of Angola, José Barroso, explained then that the purpose was to help Democratic Congo to equalize knowledge about the area in question and facilitate an agreement on its exploitation.

The Angolan Executive notified in 2022 that the parties had reached a prior agreement on the distribution of income, the definition of the contracting group, the exploration costs, the tax and legal legislation to be applied and the leadership in the negotiations during the three days of technical discussions. They also agreed that US oil company Chevron, operator of block 14, should lead the contracting group, as the company provided the history and analysis on the ZIC’s potential.

An official from the National Agency for Oil, Gas and Biofuels of Angola considered that the meeting was fruitful, since they reached “a platform of understanding on important issues”.

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