President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has reiterated the government’s commitment to use oil and petroleum resources carefully for a long time now that Uganda has gained capacity and expertise in the oil and gas sector. The President on January 24, 2023, officially launched oil drilling activities at the Kingfisher Development Area in Kikuube District that involved commissioning of the Kingfisher drilling rig for all 31 oil wells, including the deepest well which is over seven kilometers in depth.
The Kingfisher Development Area located South of Lake Albert in Kyangwali Sub-county, Kikuube District covers an area of approximately 344 km2. The Buhuka flat area where the Kingfisher oil field is located, has eleven villages.
Erection and installation of the drilling rig at the Pad-2 site in the mid-western Uganda district was concluded in November 2022. The Kingfisher Development Area is operated by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), one of the largest oil and gas companies in Uganda’s energy sector.
Close to 6.5 billion barrels of oil and gas resources have been discovered in the Albertine Graben according to the Petroleum Authority of Uganda. It is expected that the country will recover about 1.4 billion of the 6.5 billion barrels at a peak production rate of about 230,000 barrels per day.
The 6.5 billion barrels of oil are only 40% of the Muttanzige-Butungi valley, and exploration will continue on the remaining 60% of that valley in areas of Moroto-Kadam Basin in Karamoja, parts of Lango and Kaberamaido, which are part of North Kyoga Basin and the Hoima Basin (Kafu) between Hoima and Masindi.
“We shall look for all these oils and use them carefully for a long time,” Mr Museveni said on Tuesday.
The President saluted Ugandan scientists for discovering oil resources in 2006 after the British initial attempt in 1920 who saw oil oozing to the surface at a place called Kibiro but later in 1956 established that the oil later evaporated according to the report of the Commissioner of Geology by then.
The President went on to explain how a few days into government in 1986, a group from Shell BP expressed interest in signing an agreement with him about oil exploration in Uganda. He cited lack of expertise in his government then. He later sponsored Ugandans to train in Petroleum Studies.
Museveni narrated that he sponsored scientists who studied between 1987 and 1989, and later embarked on the discovery of oil which they found in 2006.
“This is where I want to appeal to leaders. Avoid bumping into things you don’t know about ‘Okutomera’ in Luganda. If you’re not sure of something, ask and you’ll be helped. I’m very happy for these people (scientists) who went for training. When they came back, they didn’t let us down. I thank them very much and I salute them,” the President said, adding that this helped him to avoid making huge decisions on behalf of Ugandans which he was not sure of.
He also thanked the oil companies and partners for bringing their experience and resources to invest in Uganda’s oil industry.
“I want to thank CNOOC for moving, I hope others are also moving. We are therefore moving forward with the oil. For us here we are very careful. We shall develop our oil resources but also develop solar energy,” Museveni said.
On the other hand, the President urged local residents to engage in agriculture and produce food that will be consumed by those working in oil fields. “That is one of the areas where you can tap wealth.”
The President commissioned the Kingfisher Oil management waste facility and planted a tree at the 200-acre oil waste plant. The UPDF through the National Enterprise Corporation (NEC) is set to manage oil waste from the Kingfisher oil development area in Kikuube district.
The President also witnessed the handover of the license to Construct the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Hon. Ruth Nankabirwa.
The License was granted by the Ministry, following the application submitted on 1st July 2022, in compliance and accordance with Section 10 of the Petroleum (Refining, Conversion, Transmission, and Midstream Storage) Act 2013, Regulation 59 of the Petroleum (Refining, Conversion, Transmission, and Midstream Storage) Act 2016, and the East African Crude Oil Pipeline Special Provisions Act 2021 and found to be satisfactory.
The construction license is required to enable EACOP to formally start on the ground construction activities in Uganda as part of the development of the 1,443km, 24-inch diameter insulated and buried crude oil pipeline that will start from Kabaale, Hoima in Uganda and flow onto Chongoleani, Tanga in Tanzania for export to the international market.
The licensed upstream oil companies are leading the development of this pipeline in Uganda: Total Energies (62% shares), CNOOC Uganda (8%), Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) [15%), and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) [15%].
