- The Ministry of Hydrocarbons of the Democratic Republic of Congo presented its available upstream acreage on Friday.
- The country is making efforts to boost crude production and launch basin exploration campaigns.
- The Minister of Hydrocarbons and his Chief of Staff marketed the blocks at the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization (APPO) Cape VII Congress and Exhibition in Malabo.
Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, April 5, 2019 – Free exploratory blocks and renderings of the coastal basin were at the center of the call for tenders by the Ministry of Hydrocarbons of the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the country promoting its available acreage at the African Petroleum Producers’ Organization (APPO) Cape VII Congress and Exhibition on Friday.
The Central African country boasts three sedimentary basins holding significant oil potential. These include the Coastal basin (6000 km2), the Central basin (800,000 km2) and the East Rift West Branch African basin (50,000 km2).
The Coastal basin features a total of six blocks open for exploration, including three previously relinquished from past operators – Ndunda, Yema, and M. Makanzi.
In the Central Cuvette basin, 21 exploration blocks have been put on offer, and three are currently held by the national mining company, Comico. In the East Rift West Branch African basin, 11 blocks are available in the Graben Tanganyika.
“What we can say now is that the Congo is a country with a future, and we can now invite our African brothers to come in numbers to invest because there is huge potential. There are many opportunities in this country, and we invite you all to come and invest in Congo,” said Minister of Hydrocarbons John Kwet-Mwen Kwet.
Targeted promotion of free blocks will be directed at large oil companies, with an emphasis on national companies and APPO member countries.
“If we look at the future outlook, as a country, we would like to conduct a targeted promotion and focus more on the national oil companies. For this, we have taken samples of the exploratory blocks that have not been explored. Now we must put it through the bidding process. These are blocks that for the moment are completely free,” said Chief of Staff of Ministry of Hydrocarbons, Emmanuel Kayumba.
The Ministry has already participated in interregional discussions leading to the development of the agreements of unitization and is currently focusing on promoting the round and encouraging oil companies to invest in upstream acreage in the Congo.
