Oil blocks that the Democratic Republic of Congo plans to auction have reserves estimated at 16 billion barrels that would be worth more than $650 billion at current prices, according to the country’s oil minister.
Preliminary data compiled by Texas-based GeoSigmoid still need to be confirmed by further exploration and “the discovery of economically profitable hydrocarbon deposits,” Minister Didier Budimbu said Saturday in a speech announcing the results. The estimates are based on an oil recovery rate of 35% and an average price of $107 a barrel.
