Desidério Costa

Who is Desidério Costa?

Desidério da Graça Veríssimo e Costa is an Angolan politician who was Minister of Petroleum from 2002 to 2008.

As Minister of Petroleum, Costa visited the China, Cuba, Venezuela, the United States and others, due to his country's expanding petroleum industry. He was the 2005-2006 chairman of the African Petroleum Producers Association. He oversaw the emerging importance of Angolan oil in the global market. Costa also oversaw Angola's joining of OPEC by January 2007, as it is now the 2nd leading petroleum exporter in Sub-Saharan Africa, with over 1.3 billion barrels drilled daily in 2005.