The geopolitics of oil in the African Great Lakes countries

Over the last twenty years, Africa, particularly the sub-Saharan region, has acquired a crucial position in the geopolitics of world oil.This repositioning is linked to the offshore and onshore revolution, which has led to a series of major discoveries in the Gulf of Guinea, the Atlantic coastal basin, the central basin, the Indian Ocean coastline and the East African Rift. The East African Rift, in the region of the Great Lakes countries, is one of the places where geopolitical strategies come into play between hydrocarbon-producing countries and Western multinational oil companies. These include the oil in Virunga Park (Block V of the Albertine Graben), the oil in Blocks III and IV of the Albertine Graben, the cross-border oil (Blocks I and II of the Albertine Graben) between the DRC and Uganda, and the methane gas in Lake Kivu, where cartridges, capital, ink and saliva are being used up in disputes over the geopolitical interests of the protagonists.