DR Congo’s draft oil law sparks controversy

A new hydrocarbons law should be approved before the end of the current parliamentary session on 15 June, replacing a 1981 presidential decree that previously governed the sector. The law should standardise the bidding process, implementing provisions to ensure transparency and competition and paving the way for licensing rounds for the remaining blocks in Lake Tanganyika and Katanga’s Upemba Basin, as well as for open blocks across the Cuvette Centrale.
Previous allocations of oil blocks have been heavily politicised and, in some cases, licences have been rescinded by presidential decree and reassigned.