Uganda launches first oil drilling programme, targets 2025 output | Fossil Fuels Information

Uganda found business oil reserves almost 20 years in the past however manufacturing has been delayed by lack of infrastructure.

Uganda on Tuesday launched its first oil drilling programme, its petroleum company stated, a key milestone because the nation races to satisfy its goal of first oil output in 2025.

The Kingfisher subject is a part of a $10bn scheme to develop Uganda’s oil reserves below Lake Albert within the west of the nation and construct an unlimited pipeline to ship the crude to worldwide markets by way of an Indian Ocean port in Tanzania.

“The president [Yoweri Museveni] has formally commissioned the beginning of drilling marketing campaign on the Kingfisher oilfield,” the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) stated on Twitter, describing the event as a “milestone”.

The East African nation found business reserves of petroleum almost twenty years in the past in one of many world’s most biodiverse areas however manufacturing has been repeatedly delayed by a scarcity of infrastructure like a pipeline.

The Kingfisher subject, operated by the state-owned China Nationwide Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC), is predicted to provide 40,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak, PAU stated.

“We’re excited as a rustic and Africa,” power minister Ruth Nankabirwa advised the AFP information company.

PAU, which regulates the petroleum sector, stated President Yoweri Museveni launched the programme at a website within the Kingfisher challenge space, one of many nation’s two business oil growth areas.

The president has formally commissioned the beginning of drilling marketing campaign on the Kingfisher oil subject that’s anticipated to provide 40,000 barrels of oil per day at peak as soon as manufacturing commences in 2025. #KingfisherDrillingLaunch @UNinUganda @CNOOCUgandaLtd @TotalEnergiesUG pic.twitter.com/2NScAuSKbs

— PAU_Uganda (@PAU_Uganda) January 24, 2023

Uganda’s second challenge space, Tilenga, positioned north of Lake Albert astride River Nile, is operated by France’s TotalEnergies.

CNOOC and TotalEnergies co-own all of Uganda’s current oilfields alongside the state-run Uganda Nationwide Oil Firm (UNOC).

At peak, Uganda plans to provide about 230,000 barrels of crude oil per day. The nation’s crude reserves are estimated at 6.5 billion barrels, of which 1.4 billion barrels are recoverable.

Nevertheless, the plans to faucet the oil at Lake Albert, a 160-kilometre (100-mile) lengthy physique of water separating Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo, have run into robust opposition from rights activists and environmental teams.

They’ve stated it threatened the area’s fragile ecosystem and the livelihoods of tens of 1000’s of individuals.