Republic of Rwanda

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The country of thousand hills and green forests, Rwanda is situated in East Africa and located at the western branch of the great East Africa rift known as the Albertine Rift. The country is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Rwanda’s stunning scenery and warm, friendly people offer unique experiences in one of the most remarkable countries in the world. It is blessed with extraordinary biodiversity, with incredible wildlife living throughout its volcanoes, montane rainforest, sweeping plains and numerous lakes throughout the country.

The west of Rwanda that touches the rift valley has many unique, endemic species and is bursting with life. Chimpanzees, golden monkeys and other primates live alongside hundreds of brightly-coloured birds, orchids and butterflies

 
Hydrocarbon Exploration in Rwanda

The exploration of hydrocarbons in Rwanda started in 1971. Initial exploration studies included geochemical and the overall analysis revealed the presence of a geologically interesting basing worth exploring more.
 
Rwanda Location Map
Rwanda Location Map


The main exploration efforts that followed comprised of 2D seismic data acquisition surveys in 2012 at lake Kivu basin, gravity and magnetic studies, and oil-prospecting geochemical survey in 2017-2018.  The results from geophysical studies showed that Lake Kivu basin is half graben and consists of a large main basin and four smaller,” separate basin “. The depth of the basins sediments is in the range between 3 km to 4.5 km.

Promising leads of a working petroleum system were found in the Lake Kivu basin and geochemical data have shown the presence of signs of migration of hydrocarbons from deep sources.

In 2021 the country contracted an American company to conduct a more advanced 2D seismic campaign to image with a higher resolution the deeper layers of Lake Kivu Basin to better understand the geological settings of the basin.

Owing to the above geological discoveries, the country has committed in pursuing the full potentiality of the lake Kivu Basin and welcomes investors for further explorations of highly potential basin of the region.

 
Methane extraction platform at Lake Kivu
Methane extraction platform at Lake Kivu



Methane gas extraction in Rwanda

Lake Kivu is located on the border between the Republic of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo and covers an area of 2400 km2 . The lake is estimated to hold 60 km3 (2.1 TCF) of exploitable methane gas that is shared between the two countries.  

The reserve of natural gas was found to be commercial valuable for generating electricity or converting the produced gas into other industrial uses. Consequently, in 2015, the country successfully launched the first commercial project of extracting methane to generate 26 MW of electricity and industrial projects are being developed for local and regional use.

Being the 2nd fastest growing economy,  2nd for doing business in Africa, Rwanda has successfully been able to attract investors willing to strive in a safe environment. In addition, a new petroleum policy and update on petroleum in development will allow a competitive ground for international petroleum companies to invest in sector.

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10th East African Petroleum Conference & Exhibition 2023 (EAPCE'23).
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