After the Republic of Congo announced the discovery of a vast oil field in the rain forest, Western countries rushed to provide development aid in exchange for protecting the environment. Reporting now indicates that the oil reserves may not exist.
On the Republic of the Congo’s 59th Independence Day on Aug. 15, 2019, President Denis Sassou-Nguesso had an apparent sensation to announce to his people. A Congolese oil company claimed to have discovered an oil field in the north of the country with reserves of 359 million barrels. That would mean an immediate quadrupling of Congo’s oil production. In his speech, the president spoke of the "presence of high-grade reserves” at the site, called the Ngoki Block.
Then Sassou-Nguesso turned his attention to the environment. Some 30 billion tons of carbon is stored in the peatlands of northern Congo, and the president said that his country wanted to "serve humanity” by protecting the bogs. But Congo has a "right to development,” he continued, and the "compensation” that had been promised to his country "is still pending.”
In other words: Either the international community coughs up more money for environmental protection or the president will authorize oil drilling in an extremely sensitive ecosystem.
Sassou-Nguesso’s threat apparently had the desired effect. Just a few weeks later, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed his Congolese counterpart in Paris, with the two leaders signing a declaration of intent that promised the African country 60 million euros in European aid, including a contribution from the German Environment Ministry. The money was intended in part to reduce the effects of oil drilling on the peat bogs. Sassou-Nguesso, for his part, promised to protect the ecosystem.
It looked like a win-win situation, but there was a catch: The alleged discovery of vast oil reserves was apparently fictional. Europe, it seems, had been bamboozled.
In cooperation with the journalism consortium European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) and the non-governmental organization Global Witness, DER SPIEGEL has examined internal files pertaining to the oil find. In addition, reporters from DER SPIEGEL and the French investigative portal Mediapart have interviewed numerous insiders in both Paris and the Congolese capital of Brazzaville. The reporting makes clear that the alleged oil-field discovery was a bluff - or, at the very least, an audacious exaggeration.
Experts from oil companies like Total and Shell had already checked the area for oil reserves years ago and determined that exploitation would not be profitable. It is difficult to believe that a company with little experience in the field would suddenly disprove all previous findings – particularly since the exploration of the alleged oil field had been stopped after the drilling of just a single test well. Experts say that just one test is insufficient for adequately determining the quality of a potential oil field....
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Today's fun fact: Brazzaville's neighbor across the river, Kinshasa has now passed Paris as the largest French speaking city in the world.
