28 08 13 Telegraph – SOCO in dispute with Foreign Office over Britain's stance on controversial DRC drilling

The
plans are fiercely opposed by environmental groups such as the World Wide Fund
for Nature (WWF), which has launched a high-profile campaign warning of
“devastating consequences” if exploration proceeds.

The group cites the British government’s
stance and calls for SOCO to follow the lead of France’s Total (NYSE: TOT – news) , which
this year vowed not to explore in the park.

But
SOCO, which will report half-year results on Thursday, told the Telegraph it had
received assurances from a senior Foreign Office official that “whilst
concerned, the UK has a neutral position on the matter”.

The
claim comes despite insistence from a Foreign Office spokesman that it is
opposed and that its position has remained unchanged.

A PR representative for SOCO said: “The UK Government stance… has been
‘turned’ to WWF’s advantage which is a little naughty of them as it is not
true.”

He
said a British Government official in Kinshasa had told journalists Britain was
opposed, but that “SOCO followed this up by seeking a meeting with the Foreign
Office which resulted in the FCO coming as close to a retraction as it gets in
diplomatic terms”.

SOCO
had written to Foreign Secretary William Hague to ask why it had not been
consulted before the government decided its position, and was then granted a
meeting with the FCO’s Senior African desk officer in February.

The
official was “very clear in his communication that, whilst concerned, the UK has
a neutral position on the matter”, SOCO said. “SOCO has not been advised by the
FCO that this position has changed.”

But a FCO spokesman indicated it did not recognise SOCO’s interpretation of
the meeting. “The UK continues to oppose oil exploration in the Virunga National
Park, a World Heritage site listed by UNESCO as being ‘in danger’,” he said. He
called on “companies and the DRC government to respect the international
conventions to which it is a signatory”, adding: “We understand exploration
could breach the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.”

SOCO said it was now seeking to clarify the UK's position.

SOCO says oil exploration is important for the DRC economically but that
only aerial surveys, rather than drilling, are planned at this stage. It says
exploration will not take place near the mountain gorillas’ habitat.

But WWF says oil exploration risks pollution, might trigger eruptions of
the region’s several active volcanoes and would cause a “ripple effect” that
could disturb the gorillas.