Congo has canceled an auction that was set to sell 27 sites designated for oil exploration, with the government citing issues such as late submissions and inadequate competition as reasons for the decision.
The auction, which was first introduced two years prior, ended up not achieving the level of success anticipated by officials. According to Oil Minister Aimé Sakombi Molendo, there are plans for a new auction in the future, although he did not provide specific details regarding when this would occur or how many blocks will be offered at that time.

The 27 oil blocks that were set to be auctioned are estimated to contain around 22 billion barrels of oil.
Located in Central Africa, Congo is known for its rich mineral resources and is believed to possess substantial oil reserves. However, oil drilling activity has so far been restricted to a limited area along the Atlantic Ocean and in offshore zones.
The expectation was that this auction could change that dynamic and open up more areas for exploration.

Since the auction was announced in July 2022, environmental organizations have raised significant concerns regarding the potential implications of expanding drilling operations, both within Congo and beyond.
The country hosts the majority of the Congo Basin rainforest, which ranks as the second-largest rainforest globally, in addition to being home to the largest tropical peatland, consisting mainly of partially decomposed plant materials from wetland environments.
These ecosystems are crucial for carbon storage, collectively capturing approximately 1.5 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually, equating to roughly 3% of worldwide emissions.
Notably, more than a dozen of the auctioned plots overlap with areas designated for protection, particularly peatlands and rainforests, such as the iconic Virunga National Park, which shelters some of the rarest gorilla species in the world.