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Democratic Republic of Congo awarded two of four oil blocks in the east of the country to companies owned by South African President Jacob Zuma’s nephew, nullifying a 2006 agreement for the same blocks with Tullow Oil Plc.
Caprikat Ltd. and Foxwhelp Ltd., registered in the British Virgin Islands and owned by Aurora Empowerment Systems Ltd. Chairman Khulubuse Zuma, got blocks 1 and 2 in Lake Albert, according to a presidential decree published in the June 22 edition of Congo’s Journal Officiel. Soco International Plc and Dominion Petroleum Ltd. received block 5 and SacOil Holding Ltd. of South Africa obtained block 3.
All four blocks are located in the Albertine Graben in the Western Rift Valley of East Africa on the border with Uganda, which will begin exploiting an estimated 2 billion barrels of reserves this year. Congo, which is recovering from four decades of war and dictatorship, wants to begin exploration soon.
“We are geared up to partner with the DRC government in order to fast-track the development of these highly prospective gas and oil concessions,” Zuma said in an e-mailed statement sent by Caprikat. “The contract should be viewed in the context of a developing strategic alliance between DRC and South Africa and is an important first step in the establishment of a wider industrial partnership between the two countries in the oil and gas sector.”
Tullow signed a contract for blocks 1 and 2 in 2006. It never received a presidential decree to begin exploration. Divine Inspiration Group Ltd., a South African company that started SacOil with businessman Tiego Moseneke’s Encha Group Ltd., signed a competing contract for block 1 in 2008. Moseneke is the brother of South African Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke.
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