The Hydrocarbons Minister Didier Budimbu announced that 27 blocks would be auctioned off at the end of the month for oil exploration.

Nine of them are in the central basin rainforest region.

Environmental campaigners have protested against plans to drill there.

They say prospecting for oil would involve cutting huge corridors through the forest to transport equipment, which could have a disastrous impact on rare species and unleash carbon that has lain undisturbed for thousands of years.