The deadline for submitting bids for the 27 oil blocks up for tender in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been pushed back by several months, the government has announced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The closing of the tenders will take place between April and October this year, depending on the blocks, Hydrocarbons Minister Didier Budimbu said on Twitter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00ab Ce report permettra aux compagnies de poursuivre les diff\u00e9rentes \u00e9valuations techniques indispensables \u00e0 l\u2019appr\u00e9ciation des offres \u00bb, explique-t-il.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The DRC government decided last July to auction off 27 oil blocks and three gas blocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The gas blocks have already been awarded to two US and one Canadian company, selected to exploit methane gas on the Congolese side of Lake Kivu, located on the Rwandan border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The government defends the DRC's right to exploit its oil resources and promises to ensure that the environment is respected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Environmental organisations, on the other hand, are up in arms against the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00ab Les pays africains sont d\u00e9j\u00e0 touch\u00e9s de mani\u00e8re disproportionn\u00e9e par la crise climatique, subissant des s\u00e9cheresses intenses \u00e0 travers l\u2019Afrique sub-saharienne \u00bb, a tweet\u00e9 samedi Greenpeace Afrique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00ab Les appels d\u2019offres de blocs p\u00e9troliers dans les tourbi\u00e8res de la RDC nous conduiront \u00e0 une catastrophe climatique \u00bb, ajoute l\u2019ONG.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Initialement fix\u00e9e \u00e0 fin janvier, la date limite de d\u00e9p\u00f4t des candidatures pour les 27 blocs p\u00e9troliers soumis \u00e0 appel d\u2019offres en R\u00e9publique d\u00e9mocratique du Congo est repouss\u00e9e…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3194,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[33,34,31,338,32],"class_list":["post-3193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualite","tag-actualite","tag-africa","tag-afrique","tag-congo","tag-petrole"],"yoast_head":"\n