Kinshasa, July 10th of 2025.

Operation Black Gold was a complete success in rooting out a small part of the government corruption that has plagued the DRC since time immemorial; a letter directed to Katumbi, which urged him to pass certain measures to avoid further corruption in Cohydro, was carefully read again by the incumbent President, before he summoned his Minister of Hydrocarbons in order to transform the energy sector of the DRC.

This transformation would come through a total revamp of the parastatal, Cohydro, and would probably be one of the most important parts of Katumbi’s administration; it requires confident reshuffling, capable administrators and loyal ministers, of which Katumbi has plenty.

The Reforms

To begin with, Cohydro will have a change in management; the current administrators will have their records reviewed by the OPCCR and the state auditor will begin surprise audits to investigate these bureaucratic officers; furthermore, middle, high and low management will be shuffled around and, where there is a cause, fired and replaced by capable university workers with a good, well-rounded education.

Cohydro will have its records investigated and reviewed, before being put on an online database and being put online for transparency; as well as list of employees and tax returns from officials which currently work at Cohydro. Previous workers will also be investigated by the OPCCR and the state auditor.

The Transformation

Along with those reforms, Cohydro will be granted all rights to oil and natural gas reserves that are not already owned; it will, essentially, act as a Holdings company, the intermediary between the international oil driller/producer, and the government who holds the oil.

There is a plethora of rules for investing into Cohydro, and they are essentially, as follows:

• Oil production must reach at least 250,000 bbl/day but not exceed 500,000 bbl/day;
• Reserves must be maintained for a minimum of 50 years;
• All contracts must require that Cohydro receives at minimum 20% of the revenue of each barrel. 3% will go to the land owner, 2% goes to the local government, and the remainder goes to Cohydro;
• Cohydro and all producers must work within the confines of the 2023 Environmental Protection Act, and be subject to review from the Environmental Protection Agency;
• All producers must agree to open a subsidiary company within the DRC, subject to our national laws.
• At least 80% of all employees working in production must be Congolese;
• At least 25% of all employees within leadership must be Congolese, with the ability for more, as the educated labor pool increases;
• All oil and natural gas inside the Congo must be transported inside of the Congo unless given permission from the Ministry of Hydrocarbons, this includes pipelines;
• The government has the right to shut down oil production at any time in order to maintain security and environmental responsibility for the nation. This may only be enacted for terms up to 60 days where a mandatory review must be given by the government as to when production may restart.

Furthermore, Cohydro will be receiving an investment of US$500 mn in order to begin, and will be given our utmost support; along with government reviews, state audits, and the legal obligation to publish financial records and a financial report for international, and national, investors to read.

To conclude, Cohydro may not allow any nation or investor to do anything unless they abide by these rules; for instance, the total for production cannot extend 500 thousand barrels per day for the entire country, not individually. The President of the DRC is hopeful that this wave of investments will revitalize the energy sector of the DRC and bring back trust into our sectors and into our nation.