2023-12-06 16:20:49
KINSHASA – Greenpeace Africa is delighted to learn that the oil company Perenco has decided to withdraw from the oil tender launched by the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in July 2022, according to French media. The Franco-British oil group had made a bid for the Nganzi and Yema II exploration blocks, in the Coastal Basin. In a letter to the Minister of Hydrocarbons he explained his decision by the “insufficient” potential of the blocks.
“This oil and gas tender process in the DRC continues to demonstrate to us that it has been, since its beginning, a total sham. After the recent revelations on the role of the minister in the allocation of one of the gas blocks of Lake Kivu, the government of the DRC must finally wake up and realize that its project never held water and that it It is high time to abandon it once and for all throughout the Republic,” declared Greenpeace Africa.
Note that since the launch of the call for tenders for oil and gas blocks, the government has failed to attract bidders. Only Perenco among the major oil companies was in the race and seeing it withdraw confirms the monumental failure of this process. The government has had to repeatedly postpone, and each time without explanation, the deadlines for submitting applications – the most recent case being the postponement, for the third time, of the Albertine Graben blocks until May 2024.
The only oil company operating in the DRC, Perenco is currently being sued in France by Friends of the Earth France and Sherpa in order to repair the damage caused to the environment. The company is also the subject of an investigation by the French national financial prosecutor for “corruption of foreign public officials” in Africa. The multinational has a dark past in Gabon, Peru and Guatemala, and was recently responsible for an oil pipeline leak in the United Kingdom.
Greenpeace Africa reiterates its position by reminding the Congolese government to renounce the exploitation of fossil fuels and focus on renewable energies.
“If Perenco finds that there is not enough oil in the Congolese subsoil, Greenpeace Africa reminds the DRC that there is enough sunlight to power the country and end the energy poverty of dozens millions of Congolese,” concludes Greenpeace Africa.
Source: Greenpeace Africa press release, 06.12.23
Image source: David ROUMANET via Pixabay
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