Soyo - The Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, Tuesday in Soyo, Zaire, reiterated the need to continue fighting the smuggling of fuel (oil and gasoline) to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with structural measures.
According to the government official, among the structuring measures, is the officialisation of the trade of crude oil refined products with DRC, country that absorbs most of the smuggled fuel.
In this context, Diamantino Azevedo, who was speaking to the press at the end of his working visit of a few hours in Soyo, said that talks were underway with the authorities in that neighbouring country, with a view to finding ways of formalising this trade.
He believes that the low price of fuel in the country, where derivatives are still subsidised by the state, encourages the tendency of some people to smuggle fuel to neighbouring countries.
Other medium and long term structural measures, according to the minister, are construction of oil refineries in Cabinda, Soyo (Zaire) and Lobito (Benguela), as well as increasing storage and refining capacity at current facilities in Luanda.
The Cabinet minister also spoke about the re-launch of the Barra de Dande Ocean Terminal and the launch of phase II of the Falcão Project, to increase storage capacity in Lunda Sul and Moxico.
