DRC’s oil company Cobil ready to deploy throughout the national territory
The oil company Cobil would be ready to deploy throughout the territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
These assurances were given by the Deputy Managing Director of this oil company,
Olivier Okunda, during the work of the Round Table on the supply of petroleum products in the Grand Equateur and Grand Kasaï spaces open, on Monday, October 10, 2022, in Kinshasa. , under the leadership of the Minister of Hydrocarbons, Didier Budimbu.
“ It is possible that we can expand to all the provinces of the DRC. The Cobil company was born from the ashes of Mobil oil Congo, we became Cobil in 2003. At the time, we had enough stations and installations in the provinces. If you go to Grand Kasaï, we have a large depot in Bena di bele of more than 450 m³ which is almost abandoned because after the 1991s marked by looting, the entry of the AFDL and the fall of the economy, many companies no longer invested in the provinces. But today we are able to rehabilitate them so that products arrive in all these corners. “, he said.
Olivier Okunda, managers of the Cobil company announced that a schedule is being refined to serve the province of Sankuru.
“ We are working now to bring the products to Sankuru. That is why in our 2023-2025 strategic plan, we want to rehabilitate the Bena di bele deposit to cover all of Sankuru. But as far as the other provinces of Grand Kasaï are concerned, we are trying to bring a lot of products up to Ilebo, but we are going to work in synergy with the SNCC, which is helping us bring the products. If we arrange with the SNCC and we solve the problem of the wagons, I think that we will flood this side with products . », specified the Deputy Managing Director of Cobil.
But to achieve this, the Deputy Managing Director of the Cobil company notes that it is necessary to look into the question of the price structure of petroleum products in these two regions of the country.
“ The other problem we are dealing with is the price structure. What is the price structure to apply in the center because this zone is attached to the southern zone whose prices are higher with the differentials. We want to propose in the recommendations that the products that go to the center come from the West because the prices are low and the differences are small and the population will benefit from it. The difference between the prices is 1,000 CDF when we actually applied the structure because with the products that come from the West which are at 3,000 CDF, while the products that come from the South are at almost 4,000 CDF “, explained Mr. Olivier Okunda.
In his opening remarks to the work of this round table, Minister Didier Budimbu called on the various oil companies to support the Government in the quest for solutions to meet the challenge of supplying oil products in this part of the country.
One of the representatives of the Grand Kasaï space, the Governor of the province of Sankuru, Nathan Ilunga, mentioned the problems of road infrastructure as an obstacle to supplying this region. He indicated that the main way to supply this region remains the railway with the SNCC. But the train of this company does not arrive at the regular interval to ensure these operations.
It should be noted that these two-day meetings bring together the Governors of the provinces of Grand Kasaï and Grand Equateur, the Provincial Ministers of Hydrocarbons, representatives of the central Government and oil companies working in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
