Government launches licensing round for 52 fossil fuel blocks, potentially undermining a flagship conservation initiative and affecting an estimated 39 million people
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is opening crucial gorilla habitats and pristine forests to bids for oil and gas drilling, with plans to carve up more than half the country into fossil fuel blocks.
The blocks opened for auction cover 124m hectares (306m acres) of land and inland waters described by experts as the “world’s worst place to prospect for oil” because they hold vast amounts of carbon and are home to some of the planet’s most precious wildlife habitats, including endangered lowland gorillas and bonobo.
This year the government has launched a licensing round for 52 oil blocks; these are in addition to three blocks previously awarded. Of the total area, 64% is intact tropical forest, according to the spatial mapping and analysis in a new report by Earth Insight. This expansion of oil and gas development is at odds with DRC’s commitments to protect biodiversity and climate protection, experts warn.
In July 2022, the DRC government launched tenders for 30 oil and gas blocks, but this was later cancelled, with the government citing late submissions and a lack of competition. “The world’s worst place to prospect for oil is up for auction, again,” said Prof Simon Lewis from University College London, who led the team that first mapped the central Congo peatlands. “No credible company would bid for oil in the DRC’s forests and peatlands, as there is probably not enough oil to be commercially viable, and it will be expensive oil in financial, social and environmental costs.”
