Latest update February 14th, 2025 6:20 AM
Global Witness exposes…Congo oil project threatens swamplands critical to global climate stability
By Kemol King
Global Witness
A project awarded to a private company to drill for oil in the Ngoki Block of the Republic of Congo threatens some swamplands that are of grave environmental importance to the stability of the world’s climate.
This is just one of a series of revelations from the most recent report done by Global Witness, an international anti-corruption watchdog which seeks to expose exploitation in extractive industries around the world.
The report titled ‘What Lies Beneath’ demonstrates how the destruction of wetlands in the much sought after Congolese oil block could result in the release of billions of tonnes of carbon into the environment.
The sequestration or storage of carbon in vegetation is vital to maintaining temperatures that are habitable for humanity. That’s why there is a global rush to fight deforestation.
For the Republic of Congo, the Cuvette Centrale is a region of global importance. Years ago, scientists discovered the existence of the world’s largest tropical peatlands (a type of wetlands) in the area, according to Global Witness.
The peatlands are estimated to be storing 30 billion tonnes of carbon, “equivalent to three years’ worth of global fossil fuel emissions”. This is why Global Witness describes the Cuvette area as one of the biggest carbon time bombs on the planet.
Global Witness said that the full exploitation of the region would mean much of the peatlands will be drained to build roads and infrastructure.
If it were to be destroyed, that would mean a worrying increase in the pace of global warming.
“The Congo Basin peatlands are crucial to the global effort to combat climate change… It is critical in terms of biodiversity and the global climate, forming part of the world’s second largest tropical rainforest.” Global Witness stated.
“The Ngoki project [awarded to Petroleum Exploration and Production Africa (PEPA)] is characterised by … the potential to inflict irreversible environmental harm,” said Colin Robertson of Global Witness.
Yet, the Congo government is keen on having the area exploited for oil as soon as it can, even though the claim of reserves there is described by Global Witness as “seemingly hollow”.
“Total and Shell both rejected offers to invest in the Ngoki oil project, after viewing a seismic survey.”
Global Witness also said that oil experts have cast doubt on the credibility of claims that the Ngoki oil block holds more than 300 million barrels of oil.
That means the project’s financiers wouldn’t just hurt the environment, but they may also be left empty handed.
Furthermore, an environmental impact study touted by the Congolese government to justify its claim that the project will have minimal environmental impact, was dismissed by Global Witness as being unfit for purpose, since the study “almost entirely predates the peatlands’ discovery and contains no analysis of the risk to peatlands from drilling”.
Despite all the concerns related to the global significance of the Cuvette region, Global Witness said that the governments of both the Republic of Congo and the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo have signed various exploration deals with oil majors, with the former starting an ongoing bidding round in 2019.
This investigation by Global Witness was undertaken in collaboration with the European Investigative Collaboration (EIC) network of journalists, Der Spiegel and Mediapart.
In future publications on this issue, Kaieteur News will explore the various corruption risks identified by Global Witness, involving the Congolese Government and the company awarded the project.
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