Brazzaville, 22 June 2022.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has solicited the support of APPO in its efforts at ensuring a successful Oil Blocks bidding process. The support was sought during a courtesy call on APPO’s Secretary General, H.E Dr. Omar Farouk Ibrahim by a delegation of DRC’s Commission in Charge of the bidding process of the country’s crude oil basins.
Speaking on behalf of the team, the head of delegation and advisor to the DRC Minister of Hydrocarbon on Upstream, Mr. Robert Kahenga Sungu explained that it was the first time DRC would organize a tender process for the allocation of oil blocks. DRC he further said needed APPO’s support in the sharing of knowledge and documents, promotion of the DRC’s oil blocks in APPO Member Countries to attract investments in the value chain of its hydrocarbon sector.
In his response, HE, Dr Omar Farouk Ibrahim commended DRC for the efforts at learning from the experiences of other APPO Member Countries and encouraged the Commission and the Government of DR Congo to be determined to go through with this process. He stressed that the narrative that the time for fossil fuels was over is a misconception, adding that fossil fuels still have a bright future as Oil will be more dominant in the next decade.
Speaking further the SG described the Energy Transition as a blessing for Africa” as it has enabled Africans take control and reduced their dependance on Western countries in all areas of the Oil and Gas sector.
The visit by DRC delegation is part of its efforts at a successful launch of the first phase of tenders process involving sixteen (16) oil blocks and (03) sedimentary basins of the DRC scheduled from 28th to 29th July 2022 in Kinshasa.
This Committee had earlier had working sessions and exchanges of experience with Experts from the Ministry of Hydrocarbon of the Republic of Congo. It plans to engage other APPO Member Countries including Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea.
