What lies beneath

The report exposes the Ngoki oil project in the Republic of Congo as a high-risk venture characterized by corruption, environmental negligence, and potentially exaggerated oil reserves. It highlights the project's threat to the world's largest tropical peatlands in the Cuvette Centrale, which store 30 billion tonnes of carbon. The investigation reveals that the project is controlled by businessman Claude Wilfrid Etoka, who has close ties to President Sassou-Nguesso's family and whose company, SARPD Oil, was dropped by BNP Paribas due to corruption risks. Furthermore, the report argues that the project's Environmental Impact Assessment is "unfit for purpose" as it predates the discovery of the peatlands. It also notes that oil majors Total and ENI have interests in the region, and calls for donors to the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) and financial institutions to halt support for oil exploration in these sensitive ecosystems.

• The Ngoki oil project poses a severe threat to the Cuvette Centrale, which contains the world's largest tropical peatlands storing an estimated 30 billion tonnes of carbon, equivalent to three years of global fossil fuel emissions.
• The Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Ngoki oil wells is considered completely unfit for purpose because it was based on 2013 studies, which predates the 2014 scientific discovery of the Congo Basin peatlands, and contains no analysis of drilling risks to these peatlands.
• The Ngoki oil block may contain over 6,000 square kilometres of peatland, including an estimated 1.34 gigatonnes of carbon, contradicting claims by the Congolese government that the project is not located on peatlands.
• The project is controlled by Claude Wilfrid Etoka through Petroleum Exploration and Production Africa (PEPA), and is linked to the family of President Sassou-Nguesso, including his nephew Cyr Nguesso and son Denis Christel Sassou-Nguesso.
• BNP Paribas terminated its relationship with Etoka's oil trading company, SARPD Oil, in 2015 due to corruption risks, citing a lack of transparency regarding why the company was chosen by the state oil company (SNPC) and Etoka's close friendship with the President's wife.
• Claims that the Ngoki find could produce 900,000 barrels per day and contain 359 million barrels of oil are disputed by experts and internal documents showing that Shell and Total rejected investment offers in 2015 after viewing seismic surveys.
• The US $65m agreement between President Sassou-Nguesso and France under the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI) is criticized for having weak benchmarks that do not rule out oil extraction in peatlands.

APA

Global Witness (2018). What lies beneath. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/what-lies-beneath/

Chicago

Global Witness. What lies beneath. 2018. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/what-lies-beneath/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Witness |title=What lies beneath |date=26 June 2018 |url=https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/what-lies-beneath/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalwitness2018what, author = {{Global Witness}}, title = {{What lies beneath}}, institution = {Global Witness}, year = {2018}, month = jun, url = {https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/forests/what-lies-beneath/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }