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Zaire Petroleum and Other Fuels
In 1956 exploration began of the Atlantic coastal
basin, the
most accessible of Zaire's petroleum reserves. Offshore
oil
production began in 1975, while onshore production started
in 1979.
Chevron-Gulf led a consortium controlling offshore
production,
while a Belgian concern had the onshore concession. In
June 1992,
the Zairian government seized the assets of United States
and
European oil companies operating in Zaire in order to
relieve fuel
shortages. The Zairian government, avoiding use of the
word
nationalization, promised compensation and insisted
that the
measure was temporary.
Until the late 1980s, Zaire's petroleum reserves were
small by
world standards but larger than those of many countries in
subSaharan Africa. In the early 1990s, oil reserves were
estimated at
140 million barrels. It seems likely that these reserves
will be
exhausted unless continuing onshore exploration near the
border
with Uganda and Tanzania is successful.
Because domestic production is a heavy crude best
suited for
fuel oil, all of it is exported for refining. Production
was 10.7
million barrels in 1988, down from previous years, 9.9
million
barrels in 1989, some 10.9 million barrels in 1990, and
9.9 million
barrels in 1991. Gas-injection techniques are used in the
oldest
onshore fields to increase petroleum production.
Petroleum consumption since the late 1970s has remained
fairly
constant; limited availability of foreign exchange is the
main
constraint on increased purchases. Indeed, as reserves of
foreign
exchange began to dwindle in the 1990s, Zaire suffered an
acute
gasoline shortage. Shortages also were due to riots and
looting. In
addition, Zaire's poor road and rail network restricts
supply to
outlying areas
(see Transportation and Telecommunications
, this
ch.). In June 1985, PetroZaļre, the national petroleum
company,
lost its import monopoly for fuel and other finished
petroleum
products, and at the same time the government removed
price
controls. Supply and distribution improved gradually.
Zaire imports
all of the petroleum that it refines because its sole
refinery,
located in Moanda on the Atlantic Coast, is not designed
to handle
the heavy crude produced domestically. The government has
been
unable to secure financial backing to overhaul the plant
so that it
can refine heavy Zairian crude. As a result, the refinery
is forced
to operate solely on small quantities of crude oil
imported from
Nigeria. The refinery has an installed capacity of 750,000
tons per
year, but in 1986 processed under 90,000 tons.
Domestic coal sources are all of low grade. Located in
central
and northeast Shaba Region, coal is used entirely by a
cement plant
at Kalemie. Production was estimated at 123,000 tons in
1988; it
increased to 125,000 tons in 1989 and 126,000 tons in
1990. Higher
grade coal and coke needed for the metallurgical industry
are
imported.
Fuelwood and charcoal are by far the most heavily
consumed
energy sources in Zaire, used primarily for household
cooking. But
there is no organized supply of fuelwood in urban areas,
and
population growth in urban areas, such as Kinshasa, has
contributed
to deforestation. The price of charcoal has risen because
it has to
be trucked in to urban centers from ever greater
distances. The
steady price increases have constrained growth in
small-scale
industries that use wood, such as fish smoking, and have
put
pressure on household budgets. Moreover, the use of wood
exceeds
regrowth of forests, and reforestation efforts have been
slow.
Data as of December 1993
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