CNPAVa a Congolese NGO Condemns Minister of Hydrocarbons for Illicit Oil and Gas Deals
The Congo N’est Pas à Vendre (CNPAV) coalition has strongly criticized Minister of Hydrocarbons, Didier Budimbu, accusing him of maintaining a lack of transparency in the selection process for certain oil blocks. These concerns were expressed during a press conference held in Kinshasa on Friday, June 2.
In response, the CNPAV has called on the government to prioritize complete transparency to prevent costly errors that have significant financial implications for the country due to opaque practices.
Congo Not For Sale has identified four (4) irregularities in the process of awarding and negotiating oil and gas blocks. These include:
Unauthorized increase in the number of oil blocks from 16 to 27 without the approval of the Council of Ministers, violating Article 61 of the Hydrocarbons Regulations and the decision of the Council of Ministers dated April 8, 2022.
Allocation of cazier blocks to companies lacking proven technical and financial experience.
Premature renewal of the offshore and onshore oil conventions with the operator PERENCO, disregarding Article 189 of the hydrocarbons law, which requires transitioning the project from the Convention to the production sharing regime upon renewal.
Secret negotiations between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Chinese state company, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), in violation of legal requirements pertaining to tender calls.
According to the CNPAV, such opaque procedures can lead to unjustified financial burdens on the Congolese people. The coalition highlights previous cases where the DRC was ordered to pay significant sums due to the failure to comply with contractual obligations, including paying over 6417 million USD to Ovine Inspiration Group UHE for non-compliance with the Production Sharing Contract of December 2007, as well as agreeing to pay 240 million Euros to the Ventora Group for uncertified investments made in Block 1 and 2 of the Albertine Graben.
The CNPAV emphasizes the urgent need for transparency in the oil and gas block sector. The DRC currently faces a debt of 857 million dollars resulting from the lenient granting of oil blocks in the past, without proper certification of oil reserves, warns the CNPAV.
Furthermore, the CNPAV believes that comprehensive studies are necessary before deciding on the exploitation of the DRC’s oil resources, given the global controversy surrounding fossil fuels and climate change.
The absence of these studies has led to the postponement of application deadlines for oil blocks and a lack of interest in submitting applications, paving the way for non-compliant procedures and clandestine negotiations with certain oil operators.
Consequently, the CNPAV urges the government to cease these opaque negotiation practices that endanger both present and future generations, and instead promote transparency and accountability throughout the decision-making process related to the exploitation of natural resources.
