The agreement was signed by the Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, and the Minister of Hydrocarbons of Congo, Aimé Sakombi Molendo, on the sidelines of the 5th Conference and Exhibition "Angola Oil & Gas 2024" (AOG), which runs until Thursday in Luanda.
Quoted in a statement from the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo explained that, after signing, the document will be submitted for ratification by the parliaments of both states.
"After that, we will move on to the most interesting activity, which is oil production", said the same official, adding that the agreement for the exploration of Zic could be "a case study".
Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo share a vast land, sea and river border and in 2003 signed a Memorandum of Understanding on joint oil exploration in the waters of the lower Congo basin south of Block 14 and north of Blocks 1, 15 and 31.
Located on the maritime border between Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Block 14 has a production capacity of 3.29 million barrels per year.
The deepwater block is operated by Chevron's local subsidiary, Cabinda Gulf Oil Company, in partnership with Eni, Etu Energias and the national oil company Sonangol.
According to a statement from the AOG organisation, a second agreement was signed this Wednesday between the Finance Ministries of Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to improve cooperation in the fields of trade, business and investment.
The agreement was formalized by the Minister of Finance, Vera Daves de Sousa, and the Congolese Minister of Finance, Nicolas Kazadi, and aims to promote innovation, financial standards and socio-economic development in both countries.
