Angola's Minister of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas, Diamantino Azevedo, recently visited the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in Beijing. The Angolan delegation was received by the company's President, Zhou Xinhuai.

During the meeting, the minister explained that the aim of the visit was to assess possibilities for co-operation with CNPC and to promote a more significant presence of the company in Angola.

The minister emphasised that Angola has ample potential both in upstream operations in maritime and onshore areas, as well as in downstream operations and marketing. He also highlighted the importance of Chinese technical expertise in deep-water and ultra-deep-water well drilling. The minister further expressed interest in co-operation in the marketing sector and invited a CNPC delegation to travel to Angola as soon as possible to analyse in detail the topics discussed during the meeting.

In turn, Zhou Xinhuai stated that CNPC has extensive experience in refinery construction, indicating that this capability could be applied in Angola. He added that the company will study the possibility of onshore and offshore oil exploration, reiterating its openness to investing in the Angolan market.

(Source: Ministry of Mineral Resources, Petroleum and Gas of Angola, on 15 April)