Page 79 - Vol 28 Issue 29 2019

geopolitics oil

Angola’s oil could actually be the DR

Congo’s. Here’s why it isn’t

By Patrick Edmond, Kristof Titeca & Erik Kennes

Mobutu Sese Seko of After his fall, Mobutu was succeeded as
DRC President then Zaire who came president by Laurent-Desiré Kabila (1997-
Felix Tshisekedi
up with a plan to win 2001) and then Joseph Kabila (2001-
rights to the oil fields. 2019). Like their predecessor, neither
Firstly, he provided father nor son was able to fully assert the
support to several DRC’s claims to the lucrative oil fields. The
armed groups who key reason for this was their reliance on,
were fighting in the and fear of, Angola.
Angolan civil war such Angola is the DRC’s “most important”
as UNITA, FNLA and neighbour and its support was crucial to
FLEC. If they proved both the defeat of Mobutu in the First
victorious, they would Congo War and the survival of the Kabilas
hand over Cabinda in the Second Congo War. If Angola could
– an oil-rich exclave make kings in the DRC, however, it could
on the coast – and its waters to Zaire also unmake them. This fact strongly
ngola’s politics lives off oil. The in return. He then doubled up on this dissuaded the Kabila regimes from trying
natural resource amounts for strategy by instituting a law in 1974 that to claim Angola’s oil.
Anearly 40% of GDP and 75% of defined maritime borders in such a way as
government revenues. It has brought to ensure Cabinda’s waters would include The two countries did discuss it, though,
foreign investment and friends, and its offshore reserves. coming up with the Joint Interest Zone
fed corrupt elites. Angola is one of (JIZ) in 2004. Under this false compromise,
the world’s largest oil producers. But the gamble failed completely. The Angola and the DRC agreed to share
The Democratic Republic of Congo armed groups Mobutu was backing were maritime rights and resources, but only
over a fraction of the territory the latter
defeated. And to make matters worse, the
(DRC), to Angola’s north, does not rely method by which Zaire had decided to could claim and in a less productive area.
on oil. It only produces from some tiny regulate its waters meant that – without Under this proposal, Angola made no
fields off its diminutive coast and has being granted Cabinda – it was left with significant concessions, while the DRC
yet to exploit potentially large reserves just a tiny triangle of maritime territory gained little. The deal also undermined
in the interior. The DRC is not oil-rich.
close to the coast. At the time, this was the DRC’s ability to make any larger claims.
And yet, legally, the opposite could be not too significant as it was not possible to This explains why the government in
true. Under the UN Convention that drill far offshore. But from the mid-1980s, Kinshasa delayed signing it until after
governs which strips of sea belong the technology improved significantly. elections in 2007 when it desperately
to which countries, the DRC could Oil companies began drilling deeper into needed both money and Angolan support
legitimately lay claim to enormous oil waters further and further out. amid high government debt and low
fields currently held by Angola. It could The UN Convention on the Law of the copper prices. In the words of a senior
argue that reserves responsible for about Sea (UNCLOS), signed in 1982, provided official involved in negotiating with
half of Angola’s production are actually Mobutu another chance. This law defined Angola at the time, “the government was
in Congolese waters and become one of maritime borders as lines perpendicular asking itself how to gain the necessary
Africa’s largest oil producers overnight.
to the coast in contrast to Mobutu’s 1974 money to pay off international debt and
So why hasn’t it? We explored this question law, which drew sea borders along the how to develop the country economically.
in a recent paper. This is what we found: same trajectory as land borders. According The possibility was raised of exploiting
Mobutu’s failed gamble to UNCLOS, the country’s waters extend hydrocarbons. Thus emerged the JIZ.”
200 nautical miles into the Atlantic Ocean.
The story of the oil fields off Angola and But while Mobutu ratified the convention, Our research also suggests Angolan
the DRC’s coasts goes back to when he had neither the capacity nor the officials used bribes to prevent the DRC
offshore drilling first began in the 1970s. At inclination to do anything about it. Zaire’s making more assertive claims over the oil.
the time, the waters were assumed to be economy was collapsing and would soon According to one interviewee, they “put
Angolan but the importance of potential descend into civil war. [Congolese officials] to sleep with money
discoveries was not lost of President and other things so that the dossier never
Fear, dependence and cash finishes”.

AFRICAN POWER Mining & Oil Review Vol 28, Issue 29, 2019 | 79