The Congolese government, through its Minister of Hydrocarbons, Aimé Sakombi Molendo declared the cancellation of the tender process for 27 oil blocks on October 14, 2024. The Minister justifies this cancellation by the offenses identified in the validation reports of a commission, including the absence of applications and inadmissible offers

The decision was made public following discussions held during the Council of Ministers on the same Friday, where Aimé Molendo Sakombi pleaded for “the end of this procedure and the imperative to relaunch a new process”, according to an account relayed by media close to the administration. The minister stressed the need for the government to “bounce back by avoiding the major difficulties raised” during the initial phase, in particular those related to the prerequisites of the procedure and to the evaluation of applications during the pre-selection

The new process should have some changes. It is envisaged to resize certain oil blocks located in the interior of the country, in order to minimize environmental impacts, especially on protected areas. In addition, the idea of redoing geological surveys was mentioned, in order to obtain more recent and updated information on the oil reserves put out

When the tenders were officially announced by President Félix Tshisekedi, estimates on the presidency's website reported 22 billion barrels of oil across the 27 blocks, with the hope that oil and gas sector revenues could represent 40% of the state budget. However, other estimates are much more conservative. Some sources speak of around 5 billion barrels, while the CIA Factbook, a platform of the main American intelligence service, puts forward a much more modest figure, estimating proven reserves at only