Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)  

Map DRC DRC Flag

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (French: République démocratique du Congo), formerly Zaire, is a nation located in Central Africa, with a short Atlantic coastline (37 km). It is the third largest country in Africa by area after Sudan and Algeria and the 12th largest in the world. The Democratic Republic of the Congo – with its population of nearly 71 million, – is the eighteenth most populous nation in the world, and the fourth most populous nation in Africa, as well as the most populous officially Francophone country.

In order to distinguish it from the neighboring Republic of the Congo to the west, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is often referred to as DR Congo, DROC, DRC, or RDC (from its French abbreviation), or is called Congo-Kinshasa after the capital of Kinshasa (in contrast to Congo-Brazzaville for its neighbor). It also borders the Central African Republic and Sudan to the north; Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi in the east; Zambia and Angola to the south; the Atlantic Ocean to the west; and is separated from Tanzania by Lake Tanganyika in the east. The country has access to the ocean through a 40-kilometre (25 mi) stretch of Atlantic coastline at Muanda and the roughly nine-kilometer-wide mouth of the Congo River which opens into the Gulf of Guinea.

For more information on the DRC please visit: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Republic_of_the_Congo

Block III

The exploration property rights are located in the DRC Lake Albert area close to the Uganda and DRC border. The area is part of the Rift Valley and is known as the Albertine Graben area which is a proven petroleum discovery region. Bituminous shales are known to be present and are generally mature. This being evidenced by numerous oil seeps and recent positive drill results in adjacent oil concessions.

DRC Block 3 Albertine Graben

The Albertine Graben is part of the East African Rift System (Western Branch) which is a relatively young exploration province with the fi rst exploration starting as recent as 1999. To date over 800 million barrels of recoverable oil resources have been discovered with two fields namely Kingfisher (200 million barrels) and Giraffe-Buffalo (300 million barrels) being the biggest discoveries. The total resource base estimated at 2 G barrels. To date the majority of the exploration has been on the Uganda side but the DRC concessions are considered to be highly prospective with Block 3 being close to recent significant discoveries.

Ownership

SacOil PTY Limited has an 85% participating interest in Block 3 with SacOil Holdings having a 50% stake which results in an overall 42.5% participating interest. The National Oil Company of the DRC holds a 15% interest.

Technical

The licence area is 3,177 square kilometres situated mostly in low land (Semliki river plain) flanked by rift margins and is on trend from recent discoveries in Uganda. The areas have been identified as Oil and Gas prone with the main source kitchen believed to be below deeper parts of Lake Albert. It is considered possible that a smaller kitchen is located in the southern part of Block 3. Kibuku oil seeps suggest that oil is likely to be found in the northern part of the block.

Work programme

The five year programme will be divided into five sub-periods and the initial work will include field studies as well as geochemical studies. Following this will be the acquisition, processing and interpretation of a minimum of 4,000 square kilometres of 2D seismic data. If the results are satisfactory then a drilling programme will follow with at least two exploration wells being drilled.

Competent Person’s report

A Competent Person’s Report on Block III has been prepared according to the rules of AIM, including the AIM Giuidance Note for Mining, Oil and Gas Companies, June 2009.

Download the Competent Person’s Report on Block III in the Albertine Graben, Democratic Republic