Page 7 - AfrOil Week 03 2023

AfrOil INVESTMENT AfrOil

DR Congo awards potentially gas-rich

blocks to US, Canadian companies

DEM. REP. OF CONGO THE Hydrocarbons Ministry of the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC) said on January 17
that it had selected the top bidders for three of
the blocks included in last year’s onshore licens-
ing round, according to a Reuters report.
The news agency quoted Hydrocarbons
Minister Didier Budimbu as saying that Kin-
shasa had awarded Idjwi to Winds Exploration
and Production (US), Lwandjofu to Alfajiri
Energy (Canada) and Makelele to ReD, a subsid-
iary of Symbion Power (US). The ministry hopes
to sign production-sharing contracts (PSCs) for
these blocks within the next 15 days, he stated.
Idjwi, Lwadjofu and Makelele are all located
on the shores of Lake Kivu, Reuters noted. The
area is believed to be rich in natural gas.
Budimbu said that Makelele might begin
production as soon as 2024, and Paul Hinks,
the CEO of Symbion Power indicated that he
saw this timeline as plausible. He told the news
agency that the block could come on stream next
year “if everything goes well” but did not spec-
ify what steps would need to be taken for this to
happen.
Meanwhile, Budimbu went on to say that The three blocks are all near Lake Kivu (Image: DRC Ministry of Hydrocarbons)
the Hydrocarbons Ministry was considering
extending the deadline for bidding in the ten- President Felix Tshisekedi and other officials
der beyond the official deadline of January 29 so in Kinshasa, to declare that the country had the
that additional blocks could be offered to inves- right to develop its own resources and point out
tors. He did not specify which extra sites might that they would take measures to protect the
become available. environment.
The final number of blocks included in the As of press time, the other 27 blocks included
onshore licensing round came to 30 – much in the licensing round – the potentially oil-bear-
to the dismay of environmental activists and ing sites that Kinshasa wants to develop in the
climate advocates, who argued that preventing hope of fostering economic growth and elim-
oil and gas exploration was necessary to protect inating energy poverty – remain unassigned.
forests and peat bogs that act as carbon sinks. Government officials believe these blocks may
These pleas led Budimbu, along with hold as much as 16bn barrels of crude. ™

Uganda signs exploration deals

for Turaco, Kasuruban blocks

UGANDA UGANDA’S government has signed deals for agreements (PSAs) and exploration licences
two new blocks in the western part of the coun- for the two sites after successfully wrapping up
try, near Lake Albert. negotiations with the investors. Kampala has
Minister of State for National Guidance God- awarded Turaco to a subsidiary of Australia’s
frey Kabbyanga told the press on January 12 that DGR Global and Kasuruban to state-owned
the cabinet had approved production-sharing Uganda National Oil Co. (UNOC), he stated.

Week 03 19•January•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P7