Congo Kinshasa has approved plans to offer 16 blocks for exploration, although the plan has drawn opposition from Greenpeace Africa.
A cabinet meeting on April 8 approved the plan, with the aim of increasing production from the current 25,000 barrels per day.
The country will offer 16 blocks in a first phase, which would involve an open and restricted tender.
The blocks in question include three different basins.
In the Coastal Basin, the offer will include the Nganzi, Yema II and Matamba-Makanzi II blocks.
The country is offering nine blocks in the Cuvette Centrale: Moero, Upemba, Block 4, Block 4b, Block 6, Block 18, Block 21, Block 22 and Block 25.
It is also offering four blocks in the Tanganyika Graben: Kibanga-Kisoshi, Kalemie, KitukuMoliro and Mulula-Lubanga-Muhala.
The Congolese Ministry of Hydrocarbons asked for government approval to set up a 15-member commission. This will oversee the next step of drafting a plan to call for tenders. The cabinet meeting approved the plan on April 8.
Cataclysmic
Greenpeace Africa said the plan would have “cataclysmic consequences for the global climate and local communities”. The NGO called for the government to reverse its plan.
“The auctioning of new oil blocks anywhere is wrong and undermines communities’ right to a healthy environment. The plan for big oil companies to trash Congo’s most sensitive ecosystems is a historic error that must be scrapped immediately,” said Irene Wabiwa Betoko, international project leader for the Congo Basin forest for Greenpeace Africa.
The NGO focused much of its criticism on the plan to develop areas in the Cuvette Centrale. The region is rich in peatlands, it said, and holds around 30 billion tonnes of carbon.
Wabiwa called on those countries that promised $500 million during COP26 for Congolese forestry to take action. “They must now address the shady and dirty plans for replacing rainforests and peatlands with oil.”
Donors should support the Congolese government to move into renewable energy and expand plans for community-led forest management.
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