Impact of the Oil Exploitation on the Abertine Block: Case of the Virunga National Park at the East of DR Congo

Abstract

The recent discovery of the hydrocarbons resources in the Eastern Congo (oil and methane gas) opened the world to deepen the research of the oil reserves in the national park of Virunga while the gas also found in Kivu Lake.

More of the exploration activities are did in several borders countries, the gas methane exploitation in Rwanda and oil in Uganda.

The possibility to improve the social conditions and the economic growth in the region cannot be appreciated while by the way the demand in energy fuel in the region continues to grow. However, the discoveries have been made in the most ecologically areas of some various regions of the country whereas is exploitation causes negative impacts on fauna, flora and the human ecosystems, therefore the destruction of the environment.

In Uganda, the oil exploration and activities of the production are visible in the Albertine graben mostly nearby national parks and their relative effects on fauna cannot be underestimated according to the testimonies of the land populations. The exploitation activities of the gas methane of the Kivu Lake in Rwanda also have the negative impacts on the environment. In DR Congo the same project is under examination in order to reduce the demands in energy of many cities of the region among them Goma, Gisenyi and Bukavu.

The environmental impacts of the oil and gas methane extraction can cause several damages on the environment like the destruction of the atmosphere, the contamination of the lakes and rivers waters, the destruction of the ecosystems of animal shelters, the pollution of waters, the changes of climates, the ecological damages, falls of oil, intensification of the greenhouse effect, acidic rain.

The importance of a synergy between the protection of the environment and the economic operators of this sector according to the exploitation of the hydrocarbons put a challenge in the past of our days and can continue in the future. These challenges must be addressed to the national authorities so that the exploitations of the hydrocarbons and gas put a minimum of impacts on the environment while maximizing the profits to the biophysical, economic and social aspects of environment in which such activities are undertaken.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90323 ©2018 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Salt Lake City, Utah, May 20-23, 2018