Editor, RE:"Rwanda to resume petroleum search in Lake Kivu in March” (The New Times, January 22).

Interesting article. Note that the surveys (seismic survey) will be able to record the responses from the geological structure under Lake Kivu. The signature of the responses recorded will then be compared to the response expected from a hydrocarbon reservoir structure.

Once positive responses come, the only way to ensure that the geological structure contains oil or gas will be through drilling. Without drilling, it will barely be impossible to have a confirmation of oil or gas deposit.

Alain ************************* I have no doubt reservoirs of oil and gas in sufficient commercial quantities will eventually be found in Lake Kivu and its basin.

The geology and geo-morphological structure of the Albertine Rift is such that if oil reserves in billions of barrels have been discovered in western Uganda and the Kivus, then there is no reason it will not be found on Rwanda’s side of Lake Kivu.

My worry is elsewhere: how this critical resource can be exploited while avoiding the degradation of our vital environment so that its fragile ecosystems do not go the way of the enduring environmental horror that is now the Niger Delta.

Mwene Kalinda