Congo recently announced the cancellation of an auction for 27 oil exploration sites due to late submissions and a lack of competition. The auction, which was initially launched two years ago, failed to meet expectations, prompting the government to call it off. The Minister of Oil stated that a new auction will be held in the future, although no specific details were provided regarding timing or the number of blocks to be put up for bidding.
The 27 oil blocks that were part of the canceled auction are estimated to hold around 22 billion barrels of oil. Despite being a mineral-rich nation in central Africa, Congo's oil drilling activities have been limited to a small area on the Atlantic Ocean and offshore. The failed auction was seen as an opportunity to expand exploration efforts.
Environmental concerns have been raised since the auction was launched in July 2022. Various agencies have warned about the potential consequences of auctioning more land for drilling, both within Congo and globally. Congo is home to the vast Congo Basin rainforest, the world's second-largest, and the majority of the world's largest tropical peatland, which plays a crucial role in capturing carbon dioxide emissions.
These ecosystems sequester approximately 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, accounting for about 3% of global emissions. Over a dozen of the plots included in the auction overlap with protected areas in peatlands and rainforests, including the Virunga National Park, which is renowned for being the habitat of some of the rarest gorillas in the world.
