DR Congo oil blocks auction after forest deal
- Communities and civil society Greenpeace: At least nine of the 30 blocks offered in 2022 overlapped protected areas including Virunga; the concessions covered 11.2 million ha of forest and 1 million ha of peatland.
- Communities and civil society Rainforest Foundation UK: The 52 new blocks in the 2025 round overlap 8.3 million ha of protected areas. Rainforest Foundation UK
- Government and regulators DRC government (Minister Didier Budimbu; a climate negotiator): In 2022 a minister was reported as saying that what mattered was that the country win, with or without oil; a climate negotiator said the country would not accept climate colonialism.
The Democratic Republic of Congo offered oil and gas blocks for tender in 2022 and again in May 2025. Greenpeace and Rainforest Foundation UK reported that the blocks overlapped protected areas and forest.
Rainforest Foundation UK reported that the 52 new blocks overlap 8.3 million hectares of protected areas.
Status As of July 2026: the outcome of the May 2025 oil-block tender is not on record in the sources reviewed.
- Protected areas and forest in the licensed areas — Overlap with the offered blocks was reported (8.3 million ha of protected areas in the 2025 round); no drilling or damage is recorded in the sources reviewed. Rainforest Foundation UK
What happened
In 2022 the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) offered 30 oil and gas blocks for tender. According to Greenpeace, at least nine of them overlapped protected areas, including Virunga, and the concessions covered 11.2 million hectares of forest and 1 million hectares of peatland.
One of the sources reviewed records that the DRC put oil blocks out to tender six months after signing a forest agreement, and that the tender was later cancelled. The sources reviewed do not name the agreement. A 2024 item from Greenpeace Afrique is titled "Annulation de l'appel d'offres pour 27 blocs" (cancellation of the tender for 27 blocks).
In January 2025 the DRC created the Kivu-Kinshasa Green Corridor, covering more than 544,000 square kilometres. In May 2025 it opened 55 oil blocks to tender, 52 of them new. Rainforest Foundation UK analysed the new round and reported an overlap of 8.3 million hectares with protected areas.
A July 2026 Greenpeace Africa report is cited in the sources reviewed as finding that 72% of the Green Corridor overlaps oil blocks. The outcome of the 2025 tender is not on record in the sources reviewed.
- 2022Government offers 30 oil and gas blocks for tender; Greenpeace reports at least nine overlapping protected areas
- 2024Greenpeace Afrique item on the cancellation of a tender for 27 blocks
- 2025January: Kivu-Kinshasa Green Corridor created. May: 55 oil blocks (52 new) opened to tender; Rainforest Foundation UK reports overlap with 8.3 million ha of protected areas
- 2026July: Greenpeace Africa report on overlap between the Green Corridor and oil blocks
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
At least nine of the 30 blocks offered in 2022 overlapped protected areas including Virunga; the concessions covered 11.2 million ha of forest and 1 million ha of peatland.
The 52 new blocks in the 2025 round overlap 8.3 million ha of protected areas.
Rainforest Foundation UKIn 2022 a minister was reported as saying that what mattered was that the country win, with or without oil; a climate negotiator said the country would not accept climate colonialism.
How it looked
Shown
- The Kivu-Kinshasa Green Corridor was established in January 2025 over more than 544,000 square kilometres and described as the world's largest community reserve.DRC government (declaration of the Green Corridor)
Recorded
- Rainforest Foundation UK reports that the 52 new blocks in the 2025 round overlap 8.3 million hectares of protected areas.
- Greenpeace reported that at least nine of the 30 blocks offered in 2022 overlapped protected areas, including Virunga.
- Greenpeace Afrique published an item titled "Annulation de l'appel d'offres pour 27 blocs" in 2024.
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
Responses on record
- drc-government (2022): Minister Didier Budimbu was reported as saying in 2022 that what mattered was that the country win, with or without oil; a climate negotiator said the country would not accept climate colonialism.
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.
- Disputed Should oil blocks be licensed where they overlap forest and protected areas?
Court
- None on record No court case on record.
Record
- None on record The outcome of the May 2025 tender, including any awards, is not on record in the sources reviewed.
- None on record The sources reviewed do not say how the 27 blocks in the 2024 Greenpeace Afrique item relate to the 30 blocks offered in 2022.
- None on record The sources reviewed do not name the forest agreement that preceded the cancelled tender.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: Greenpeace Africa (July 2026) is cited as finding that 72% of the Green Corridor overlaps oil blocks and 23% (12.3 million ha) overlaps mining licences, and that the blocks cover 66.8 million ha (64%) of intact forest.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: preparations to lift the DRC's 2002 moratorium on new industrial forest concessions were described as at an advanced stage in June 2026.
- None on record No government statement on the 2025 round is on record in the sources reviewed.
Did the harm stop?
The sources reviewed record a tender cancelled after the first round; the outcome of the May 2025 round is not on record.
Who paid?
Not established in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Communities and civil society
- Threat posed by new DRC oil block licensing roundRainforest Foundation UK · 2025
- Annulation de l'appel d'offres pour 27 blocsGreenpeace Afrique · 2024
Connected cases
- Angolan diamond mine tailings leak: DR Congo reports 12 dead, about 4,400 patients Angola · 2021
- Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Government) — here: Licensing authority; there: Reported 12 deaths and about 4,400 patients
- Cobalt child labour lawsuits against tech firms (DR Congo) DR Congo · 2024
- Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Government) — here: Licensing authority; there: Government that suspended cobalt exports and set a quota
- DR Congo's 2018 mining code raises cobalt royalty from 2% to 10% DR Congo · 2018
- Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Government) — here: Licensing authority; there: Government that signed the mining code
- DRC replaces cobalt export ban with 96,600-tonne annual quota Democratic Republic of the Congo · 2025
- Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Government) — here: Licensing authority; there: Set the export ban and then the quota
- Half-Earth and 30x30 advocacy funding (Wyss Campaign for Nature) Global · 2016–2026
- Rainforest Foundation UK (NGO) — here: NGO that analysed the 2025 licensing round; there: Co-signatory of June 2022 letter to delegates
- Salonga National Park ranger abuses (DR Congo) DR Congo · 2002–2020
- Rainforest Foundation UK (NGO) — here: NGO that analysed the 2025 licensing round; there: NGO that stated the investigation findings in March 2019
- US and DRC sign minerals partnership giving US firms first offer on mining sites Democratic Republic of the Congo · 2026
- Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Government) — here: Licensing authority; there: signatory to the partnership