A number of South Africans have
managed to gain access to rich, emerging oil
fields in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) –
courtesy of their political ties.
Khulubuse Zuma, controversial businessman and nephew of President
Jacob Zuma, was this week unexpectedly granted access to oil concessions in Lake Albert.
The DRC awarded Blocks 1 and 2 in
Lake Albert to Caprikat and Foxwhelp, registered in the British Virgin Islands
and owned by Zuma, according to a presidential decree published in Congo’s
Journal Officiel this week. The journal is the Congolese government’s
gazette.
Two companies will in 2012 begin exploring two oil blocks in eastern DRC
that were previously contracted to Tullow Oil, a
company adviser said.
Zuma is also chairperson of Aurora Empowerment Systems, which is
in the process of buying two gold mines from Pamodzi Gold. The sale of these
mines has courted controversy as Aurora has struggled to pay its
employees.
Trade union Solidarity spokesperson Gideon du Plessis said on
Friday that workers at Grootvlei, one of the two mines, had not received their
salaries since the end of February. “They can’t claim unemployment insurance as
they are still on Aurora’s payroll.”
Du Plessis said that of the union’s 300 members at Grootvlei, 100
members will still be at work: “If these 100 workers stop working because of
non-payment, the mine will be flooded completely and there would also be an
ecological disaster as 108 megalitres of water flows into nearby areas.”
Until last week the DRC awards were
only provisional, but President Joseph Kabila has now confirmed them.
SacOil, a Pan African-controlled oil
and gas-focused company with exploration assets in Africa, has welcomed the
news, while saying it still wished to liaise with the DRC government about its supposed rights to Block 1,
which now belongs to Zuma.
But in a recent report the British watchdog group in the oil industry, Platform, highlighted various
irregularities in awarding the Lake Albert blocks.
How much oil can be extracted is
still uncertain, but speculation has it that the DRC’s existing small-scale oil production could increase fivefold to 150 000
barrels a day. In 2008 an evaluation of SacOil’s Block 3 produced an extremely
conservative valuation of R1.8 billion at an oil
price of $60 (about R460) a barrel.
Both small and large international oil groups like Total and the Chinese state-controlled
oil company, CNOOC, have been trying to gain
control of this oilfield in recent years.
Zuma’s companies have already entered into a partnership with the
Swiss consultancy Medea Development.
Earlier this year French oil giant
Total, among others, expressed interest in entering into partnership with
Tullow to develop the oil blocks that Zuma now
owns.
Caprikat was incorporated on March 24, according to registration
documents from the British Virgin Islands.
“Without transparency and the sanctity of contracts it is very
difficult to attract legitimate investment that will benefit the general
population rather than the few,” Tullow said. “We are reviewing our options but
have no doubt about the legal validity of our claims to these blocks.”
The DRC on June 18 also issued two
other presidential decrees awarding Soco International and Dominion Petroleum
Block 5 along Lake Edward and SacOil Holding of South Africa Block 3, according to Journal Officiel.
Divine Inspiration Group co-founded SacOil with businessman Tiego
Moseneke’s Encha Group in 2008. Moseneke is the brother of South Africa’s Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke.
–
Additional reporting by
Sapa
