Angola’s Oil minister, Botelho de Vasconcelos, urged that his country’s petroleum sector show a greater commitment with a view to meeting the new challenges of the oil industry, reported AllAfrica.

This was at the end of the 11th Consultative Council of the sector, stressing that a new era for the oil industry has open in the country, calling on staff for greater commitment and dynamism.

He said that the current financial situation facing the country demands the sector show greater responsibility for investment in other national sectors and help the government in its diversification plans.

At the same he insisted that the oil sector had to change the way it managed itself.

“We must ensure the maintenance of the principle of contractual stability, as guarantee for investment,” he added, also calling for the speedy construction of Lobito refinery to ensure the production of more fuel and lubricant at the market.

According to the Mail & Guardian Africa FITCH Ratings has downgraded Angola’s long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating by one notch to “B+”.

This was because of the decline in oil prices, resulting in “public debt, falling reserves and weakened growth.”

While acknowledging the fiscal measures taken by the government in the current crisis Fitch still argued that the country’s economy was still too dependent on crude.