For the First Time in 30 Years. An Oil Field Was Discovered on the Shelf of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Muanda International Oil Company (MIOC, a subsidiary of the Anglo-French Perenco) has explored oil deposits on the continental shelf of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This was reported by the Perenco press service.
This is the first success in geological exploration on the shelf of an African country in almost 30 years.
Read more about the discovery of the deposit
In 2024, MIOC drilled 2 exploration wells:
Moke-East well:
- located between the Lukami and Motoba fields,
- drilled by a Nuada jack-up drilling rig (SSDR) class 82 SD-C, owned by Dixstone,
- discovered oil deposits at 24 ft (7.32 m) intervals,
- well construction will be completed in the coming weeks;
well LUKS-A.
The Nuada rig has drilled the 1st of 12 wells in the GCO field as part of MIOC’s ongoing drilling campaign offshore the DRC aimed at unlocking additional resources in the country. They are expected to be completed in parallel with the workover of the CS02 well in the same field.
Theses of the General Director of Perenco in the DRC F. Kipferle:
- MIOC, operating offshore the DRC, started the year actively, incl. having drilled the first exploration wells on the country’s shelf in almost 30 years;
- Although testing (wells) is ongoing, we are encouraged by the early results from Moke-East;
- After several months of preparatory work to ensure safe and successful operation, Nuada moved to the GCO field where it will operate for the next 12 months;
- We firmly believe that the DRC oil and gas industry has a very positive future ahead of it.
Present in the Democratic Republic of Congo since 2000, Perenco is the country’s sole oil producer. The total average production of its subsidiaries is 19.5 thousand barrels per day of oil.
The oil discovery comes shortly after Perenco acquired several non-core assets from Italy’s Eni in Congo for $300 million.
In February 2024, Perenco also decided to drill an appraisal well near the Hylia South West field, discovered in 2022 offshore Gabon.
In March, the company also began drilling 5 wells at the Kita Eden field in the northern Rio del Rey basin off the coast of Cameroon.
