By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Uganda’s Energy Minister says the East African country is exploring for oil in two new regions where potential discoveries of crude could increase the country’s reserves currently standing at 6.5 billion barrels.
Commercial quantities of crude oil were discovered in the Albertine Graben basin in Uganda’s west near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo nearly two decades ago, but production has not commenced till next year.
The Energy Minister Ruth Nankabirwa at a press conference in the capital, Kampala on Wednesday said government geologists are exploring two new regions located in Uganda’s north and northeast.
“The ministry is conducting preliminary petroleum exploration studies in the Moroto-Kadam Basin to assess its oil and gas potential. Similar surveys have started in the Kyoga Basin,” she said, referring to the two new regions.
“Early results suggest the potential for commercial oil and gas in the Moroto-Kadam Basin.”
Uganda has five basins where hydrocarbon potential is believed to be deposited, with only one, the Albertine, successfully explored so far, the energy ministry says.
The two oil fields in the Albertine basin – Tilenga and Kingfisher – are majority-owned by TotalEnergies with a 56.7% stake, while China’s CNOOC and the Uganda national oil company UNOC own the remaining share.
Commercial production has been hampered by various factors including disagreements with oil firms over field development strategy and taxation, and a lack of infrastructure and funding to develop it.
Only 72 of 457 planned wells have been drilled in the Tilenga and Kingfisher oilfields, the Minister said.
Oil firms had submitted a plan for a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) facility for which the government has planned to issue a license.
The government expects a decision next month from Chinese funders, including EXIM bank and SINOSURE, that Uganda has been wooing to provide credit for the proposed East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), Nankabirwa said.
Heritage Times HT reports that agriculture, forestry, and fishing account for a large share of Uganda’s export earnings and its gross domestic product, as well as providing the main source of income for the vast majority of the adult population.
Several African countries rely on oil as major revenue source with minimal attention to agriculture and mining.
Nigeria, the largest producer of oil in Africa has been aiming to diversify its revenue source from oil, aiming more investment in the mining and agric sectors.
