British firm banned from oil exploration in Congo national park

A BRITISH firm will not be allowed to explore for oil in a protected national park in volatile eastern Congo, the government has said.

The decision was welcomed by environmental campaigners who say the UNESCO world heritage site should be protected.

Congo’s Minister for the Environment Jose Endundo said his government did not accept Soco International’s environmental impact assessment, which would allow it to explore part of its oil concession that lies within Virunga National Park.

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The British firm shares with two other companies a 2,900 square mile concession, half of which lies in the park’s southern sector. Congolese law forbids oil exploration inside the park.

Mr Endundo said: “We have rejected the recommendations of an environmental impact assessment conducted by the oil company, Soco, which we consider premature, superficial and which does not conform to the standards which we would expect.”

He said the government will conduct its own study and that the oil company has assured him they “will not attempt any prospecting work in the park unless a positive consensus is achieved”.

The park is home to 200 of the world’s nearly 700 remaining mountain gorillas and contains more species of mammals, reptiles and birds than any other protected area in Africa, or perhaps the world.

Environmental campaigners welcomed the decision.

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WWF International communications manager Natalia Reiter said exploration could “set an extremely dangerous precedent that even the most precious places on earth are open for oil and gas development,” adding: “The government made a step in the right direction.”

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