This is a big find for the Democratic Republic of Congo. Two new oil blocks on Lake Albert could hold 2-billion barrels of oil reserves. “But any confirmed discovery would require major investments for further development, said the head of the company operating there,” reports Business Day Live.

The potential for big finds along the Congo’s eastern border has increased since UK-based Tullow Oil found oil on the Ugandan side of Lake Albert in 2006.

France’s Total and Chinese national oil company, CNOOC,  have operations there and Uganda’s government has estimated reserves at 3.5-billion barrels.

Oil of DR Congo GM Giovanni Pedaci said the company has completed a second phase of seismic data acquisition on Congo’s Lake Albert blocks last month.

“We need to drill down, to be sure, but we have measured the volume of structures under the lake and it is very high — 2-billion barrels,” he said.

Currently, Oil of DR Congo operates on blocks 1 and 2 on behalf of Foxwhelp and Caprikat, two British Virgin Islands firms that were granted concessions for five years in 2010 after being withdrawn from Tullow.

Foxwhelp and Caprikat own Oil of DR Congo and are in turn owned by Fleurette Group.

“We need a lot of investment to undertake the project. We need two, three, four billion dollars,” Pedaci said. “Our shareholders are looking for partners to share the investment and the risk.”

According to Pedaci, any oil discovered on Congo’s side of Lake Albert would be exported via a pipeline through Uganda and Kenya to the Indian Ocean.

Tullow and its partners have already announced plans to build a pipeline from Lake Albert to Africa’s eastern coast.