The oil-rig looks incongruous on the banks of the River Likouala-aux-Herbes...which meanders towards the River Congo through savannah floodplains and swamp forests. This is a place roamed by endangered forest elephants and lowland gorillas, described by one travel guide as “literally one of the most wild and remote regions of the planet...”. Beneath the dark waters of...the Republic of Congo’s rulers claim there lies a vast oil reserve...But a wide-ranging investigation...sheds new light on this oil project. Global Witness can reveal serious corruption risks, environmental assessments that are completely unfit for purpose, and expose claims of vast oil reserves as seemingly hollow. Oil production in this region would not only be environmentally harmful, but an investment every bit as perilous as these crocodile-infested waters...

The oil strike was announced by a private Congolese company named Petroleum Exploration and Production Africa (PEPA). But this investigation has found that PEPA has strong links to the family of President Sassou-Nguesso... Willy Etoka [Claude Wilfrid who controls PEPA] denies having direct financial dealings with the president or his son. “I have friendships with the Nguesso family, that’s for sure,” he said in 2015, “but no business relationships.”...

Mr Etoka told Global Witness: “Compared to coastal oil operations, which can produce traces of marine pollution, oil exploration in the Cuvette presents no risk of environmental disturbance. “The president of the Republic of Congo, who is in charge of protecting the Congo Basin, would not have authorised us to explore for oil there, if there was any evidence of such risks.” Mr Etoka also said that the exploration was preceded by an environmental impact assessment, approved by Congo’s Environment Ministry, and that the peatlands were “outside” of the Ngoki oilfield...[Refers to Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo, Petroleum Exploration and Production Africa, Total, Eni, Shell, Glencore, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole, Gunvor, Pilatus Energy and JP Morgan].