Congo Republic plans to call for tenders for an oil licence in September, making it the first licensing round after the oil prices pushed up in 2017.
The country made a promotion campaign at an oil conference in South Africa in November.
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The price of oil has started increasing in recent months after it dipped in 2014 due to global oversupply.
Interest shown in the auction will enable the country to benefit from its oil reserves. It is expected that companies would be interested as oil prices have risen, which in turn makes drilling a more viable option.
The licensing round is expected to close on 30 June 2019. This comes after an earlier round in 2016, which had seen participation of 30 companies, reported Reuters.
Around 18 offshore and onshore blocks will be auctioned, according to information on the country’s hydrocarbons ministry’s website.
The onshore auction of Cuvette basin include blocks of Mboto, Mbesse, Mboloko, Koga and Ntsinga. Onshore Coastal basin blocks to be put up for auction include Nanga III, Conkouati, and Niambi.
The shallow-water blocks for bidding include Marine XXXI A/B, Marine XXVI, Marine XXIX A/B, Marine XXV and Youbi, while the deep and ultra-deep-water blocks include Marine XXII, Marine XXIII, Marine XIX, Marine XXIV, and Marine XXX.
Due to major finds by ENI and Total, Congo plans to boost its energy industry as its economy is struggling with huge debt, as well as civil unrest. As per the International Monetary Fund, Congo’s economy has heavy reliance on the oil production. In 2011, around 87% of the country’s export revenues and about 80% of the government’s total revenue came through the oil industry.
In March last year, Total commenced production from the Moho Nord project, which lies 75km offshore Pointe-Noire in the Republic of the Congo. It has a production capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day.
This is considered to be the biggest oil project in the Republic of Congo.
