Open letter to Trafigura: No to oil development in the DRC

Madam, Sir,

We, members of the Our Land Without Oil campaign (Notre Terre Sans Pétrole, in French), a coalition bringing together more than 160 Congolese, African, and international organizations, are writing to express our deep concern and our firm opposition to the memorandum of understanding signed on February 7, 2025, between your company and the Ministry of Hydrocarbons of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This partnership aims to develop new oil projects on our territory — an initiative that we consider incompatible with the environmental, social, and ethical requirements of our time.

A blatant contradiction with climate commitments

The DRC has ratified the Paris Agreement and seeks to position itself as a key player in the fight against climate change, notably by sustainably valuing the ecosystem services provided by its forests and wetlands. Trafigura also claims to want to reduce its environmental footprint, including by decarbonizing its operations, investing in renewable energy technologies, and reaching “carbon neutrality by 2050.” Yet, your company’s involvement in the massive relaunch of oil exploration projects, particularly in ecologically sensitive areas of the Congo Basin — national parks, peatlands, Indigenous habitats, and areas which support the livelihoods of thousands of local communities — represents a major inconsistency with your stated climate and social safeguard commitments. It endangers some of the planet’s richest forest ecosystems, would release enormous amounts of carbon, and seriously threatens biodiversity as well as the survival of Congolese peoples.

Moreover, this oil push directly undermines a flagship national initiative: the Kivu-Kinshasa Green Corridor (CVKK), a project dedicated to ecological restoration, the strengthening of inclusive food security, and sustainable development.  By pursuing destructive oil projects in areas overlapping with the CVKK, Trafigura is not only contributing to climate and ecological degradation, but also actively threatening one of the most promising and ambitious environmental and green growth programs in Central Africa, and globally. The result would be a double blow: accelerating environmental damage while dismantling a visionary path toward ecological resilience, a foundation for social safeguards, and the long-term prosperity of the Congolese people. 

A sector unable to convince, with destructive consequences

The call for tenders launched in July 2022 for the allocation of 27 oil blocks was officially canceled in October 2024, due to the absence of credible bidders and serious irregularities: total lack of transparency, no serious environmental and social impact assessment, and suspicions of conflicts of interest. This fiasco illustrates both the Congolese oil sector’s inability to guarantee any economic viability, and the DRC’s lack of credibility among companies in the sector, which no longer see it as a trustworthy partner.

In Muanda, where oil exploitation began in 1975, fifty years of extraction have wrought economic, social, and ecological disaster. Far from bringing any progress, this activity has worsened poverty, polluted land and water, and led to serious and repeated violations of human and environmental rights, causing irreparable harm. Oil in Muanda has increased dependency, destroyed living conditions, and fueled injustice. As such, it has been the subject of legal action. This operation benefits neither the state nor the population — rather, it impoverishes, divides, and destroys.

By choosing to ignore these alarming precedents and engage in oil development in the DRC, Trafigura exposes itself to the same risks and the resulting legal, financial and reputational consequences. Continuing on this path would associate your company with a sector that has proven unsustainable and harmful at every level. It would reinforce your exposure to social unrest, legal challenges, environmental liability, and long-term reputational damage. Rather than learning from history, Trafigura risks repeating — and amplifying — the harms already inflicted by decades of oil extraction in Congo.

The illusion of development at the heart of a corrupt system and an impoverished population

The discourse promoting oil as a lever for development and energy autonomy, as presented in the memorandum of understanding signed between Trafigura and the Ministry of Hydrocarbons, is an illusion. The revenues benefit a narrow elite and multinational corporations, while the majority of Congolese people remain in poverty and face an extremely severe food crisis. This imbalance is worsened by an alarming level of corruption, particularly in the extractive sector, known as one of the most vulnerable to illicit practices. In the DRC, this corruption is systemic. In such a context, engaging in oil projects exposes Trafigura — already involved in several scandals on the continent — to increased risks of legal action and sanctions. It also poses a serious threat to the reputation, legal compliance, and security of future actors involved in a highly sensitive and unstable sector.

A driver of security and political risks

In a context already marked by instability, social fragility, climate-induced migration and violence, oil exploitation would only exacerbate existing tensions. Land conflicts, insecurity around fishing areas, militarization of exploration zones, and repression of environmental and human rights defenders already exist within the oil exploration regions. Exploitation would certainly aggravate these issues. The precedent of extractive projects in sensitive areas shows that far from pacifying, oil causes destabilization.

Legal risks: direct exposure for Trafigura

By supporting oil expansion in the DRC, you expose yourselves to legal proceedings and non-judicial accountability. This includes complicity in human rights violations, failure to comply with international standards (such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, UN Guiding Principles, and IFC Performance Standards), and corruption. These acts could trigger Trafigura’s liability before European or American courts, under principles of extraterritorial jurisdiction.

A threat to your reputation 

Your involvement in this project directly contradicts the image of social responsibility that you seek to promote. For example, Trafigura’s Corporate Social Responsibility Policy commits the company to “earn and maintain a social license to operate” in any country where you operate. Given the breadth of civil society and community opposition to oil sector development in the DRC, there is no such social license for Trafigura’s involvement in the country. We urge you to reconsider your involvement, in line with your policy commitments.

Already criticized for your practices in the cobalt and toxic waste sectors, your company risks losing the trust of ESG-conscious investors, financial partners, and the general public. We also intend to communicate our concerns to these stakeholders directly.

Our demands

We formally ask you:

• To immediately withdraw from all oil projects in the DRC.
  
  

• To refrain from supporting, directly or indirectly, other companies involved in oil or gas exploitation in the country.
  
  

• To redirect your investments toward truly sustainable activities that create value for local populations.
  
  

• To open a constructive dialogue with Congolese civil society and its international partners.

In conclusion

The energy and economic future of the DRC must be based on respect for its people and their rights — including the right to oppose or prioritize one economic model over another — and the protection of our ecosystems. Oil belongs to the past; the lives of the people, the future of the ecosystems upon which Congolese populations depend, and that of the planet, call for better and more appropriate policies and practices.

We invite you to respond to this letter before 9 June 2025. Failing that, we will intensify our advocacy efforts at the national and international levels.

Please accept, Madam, Sir, the expression of our determination to defend our land, our lives, and the dignity of the Congolese people.

The member organizations of the coalition, in the DRC and internationally, will remain fully mobilized and will maintain constant vigilance over Trafigura’s future activities in this sector, with the firm intention of responding through public and targeted actions in the event of any project advancement.

Our Land Without Oil / Notre Terre Sans Pétrole.