By Spy Uganda
Kampala: Uganda is currently exploring two new regions for oil, where potential discoveries could boost the country’s proven reserves beyond the existing 6.5 billion barrels.
The development was confirmed by the Minister of Energy & Mineral Development, Ruth Nankabirwa during a press briefing held in Kampala on Wednesday.
Commercially viable crude oil was first discovered nearly two decades ago in the Albertine Graben basin in western Uganda, near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but production is expected to commence in 2025.
According to Nankabirwa, government geologists are now focusing their exploration efforts on two new regions in northern and north-eastern Uganda.
https://x.com/NankabirwaRS/status/1826225964428259414
“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,” Nankabirwa said, adding that ”early results suggest the potential for commercial oil and gas in the Moroto-Kadam Basin.”
Uganda has five basins where hydrocarbon potential is suspected, 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 percent stake, while China’s CNOOC and the Uganda National Oil Company (Unoc) own the remaining share.
Commercial production has been delayed 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, Nankabirwa said, and oil firms had submitted a plan for a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) facility for which the government 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 noted.
The 1,445-kilometer (895-mile) Eacop will help Uganda export its crude via a port on Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast.
