The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is looking to unlock its billions of estimated oil reserves by signing deals with oil companies and its neighbors to boost exploration, production and export.
- Last July, the country signed an agreement with Angola for the joint development of Block 14, situated on the maritime border of the two countries.
- Last May, the DRC signed an agreement with Uganda that would see oil produced from the DRC’s Albertine Graben transported via the planned East African Crude Oil Pipeline and onward to global markets.
- It also signed an agreement with Equatorial Guinea in 2022 for the construction of a refinery and storage facilities.
With 180 million barrels of proven oil reserves – and up to 5 billion of estimated oil reserves – the country currently produces 25,000 barrels of oil per day from its Coast Basin, in partnership with hydrocarbon producer Perenco. But it has additional hydrocarbon-rich basins that remain untapped – such as the Albertine Graben, shared with Uganda.
In early 2022, Kinshasa launched an upstream market expansion initiative, initiating a 30-block licensing round aimed at unlocking oil reserves valued at up to $650 billion. In January 2023, it awarded exploration and production licenses for three Lake Kivu gas blocks to North American energy companies Symbion Power, Winds Energy & Production and Alfajiri Energy.
The awards pave the way for the development of a $300-million, 60 MW gas-to-power project by Symbion Power.
