Israeli billionaire businessman Dan Gertler sold one of his
Congo-based oil companies to the government last year for $150 million –
300 times the amount paid for the oil rights – in a deal criticised by
transparency campaigners. Gertler, an influential figure in Democratic
Republic of Congo’s mining and oil sectors with close links to the
Kinshasa government, denies any wrongdoing in the sale of Nessergy Ltd, which paid a $500,000 signing bonus for its block in 2006.
The block lies near some of neighbouring Angola’s most productive
oilfields. At the time it was acquired by Nessergy, the block was
located in an area at the heart of a maritime border dispute between
Kinshasa and Luanda. However, the two countries have since created a
zone of common economic interest in an attempt to settle the border row.
Last year, Congo sought to buy back the rights from Nessergy to allow
it to negotiate a new production sharing agreement with Angolan state
oil company, Sonangol.
According to the contract for the April 2013 transaction seen by
Reuters, Sonangol financed the deal, paying Gertler’s Fleurette Group
$150 million for the rights to the block. Congo will repay Sonangol out
of future oil revenue. Fluerette has been paid the fee but cannot access
the money until a deal between the national oil companies of Congo and
Angola is finalised.
A Fleurette representative said no major drilling had taken place in
the Nessergy block due to disputes over development rights. He said the
$500,000 signing bonus was the standard amount companies paid to Congo
for oil rights at the time the contract was agreed. The company said the
value of its rights increased dramatically after oil was discovered on
the nearby Menongue field in Angolan waters in 2007.
