Seismic tests in Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) Virunga National Park, Africa's oldest wildlife reserve which is famed for its mountain gorillas, have confirmed the presence of oil, the Congolese government said Friday.
Tests carried out by British oil company Soco had returned "positive" on the presence of oil deposits, Minister of Hydrocarbons Aime Ngoy Mukena told AFP by telephone.
On the question of "whether there is an oil field" underneath the park, the study answered "yes", he said, without giving further details.
The announcement was likely to reignite a heated debate within DRC over the merits of exploring for oil in the vast park, which covers some 7,800 square kilometres (3,010 square miles) of lush forest, glaciated peaks and savannah in the restive eastern province of North Kivu.
The UNESCO world heritage site reopened to tourists last year after being closed for two years because of militia violence in the region. UNESCO has warned several times that any exploration for oil in the park would be "incompatible" with its heritage status.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Francis on Sunday November 08 2015, @02:07AM
I'm wondering why they were even allowed to test for oil if it's under a wildlife park. Some parts of Africa have figured out that tourists are a significant source of income that doesn't require destroying the landscape to obtain.
(Score: 2) by francois.barbier on Sunday November 08 2015, @02:38AM
Tourism is limitless. Oil reserves are not.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by c0lo on Sunday November 08 2015, @12:31PM
Not with militia violence, no.
May be so, but there's enough to get money quick: those militia need AK-es, bullets and, occasionally, some RPG-es to have some fun [wikipedia.org] around.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Some call me Tim on Sunday November 08 2015, @02:57AM
Probably because the Minister of Hydrocarbons is now a very wealthy man.
Questioning science is how you do science!
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Joe Desertrat on Sunday November 08 2015, @06:11PM
Probably because the Minister of Hydrocarbons is now a very wealthy man.
We need a "sad, but true" mod.