By KAMPALA, Uganda — Uganda is expanding its oil exploration efforts to two new regions, potentially increasing the East African nation’s proven reserves beyond the current 6.5 billion barrels, Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa announced Wednesday.
Speaking at a press conference in Kampala, Nankabirwa revealed that government geologists are conducting preliminary petroleum exploration studies in the Moroto-Kadam Basin in the north and the Kyoga Basin in the northeast.
“Early results suggest the potential for commercial oil and gas in the Moroto-Kadam Basin,” Nankabirwa said, indicating promising prospects for the country’s energy sector.
These exploration efforts come nearly two decades after the discovery of commercial quantities of crude oil in the Albertine Graben basin near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite this long-standing discovery, production is not expected to begin until next year.
Uganda’s energy ministry reports that the country has five basins with suspected hydrocarbon potential, but only the Albertine basin has been successfully explored to date. The Albertine basin houses two major oil fields, Tilenga and Kingfisher, which are majority-owned by French energy giant TotalEnergies with a 56.7% stake. China’s CNOOC and the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) hold the remaining shares.
The path to commercial production has been fraught with delays, attributed to various factors including disagreements with oil firms over field development strategies and taxation, as well as infrastructure and funding challenges. Nankabirwa reported that only 72 of the planned 457 wells have been drilled in the Tilenga and Kingfisher oilfields.
In a move to diversify its energy portfolio, Nankabirwa announced that oil firms have submitted a plan for a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) facility, for which the government intends to issue a license.
A critical component of Uganda’s oil export strategy is the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), a 1,445-kilometer (895-mile) pipeline that will transport crude oil to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast. Nankabirwa stated that the government expects a decision next month from potential Chinese funders, including EXIM bank and SINOSURE, regarding credit for the EACOP project.
The expansion of oil exploration activities and the development of associated infrastructure underscore Uganda’s ambition to become a significant player in the global oil market. However, these efforts have raised concerns among environmental activists about the potential ecological impact, particularly on protected areas and water resources.
