Repeated failures to achieve Ugandan oil production targets has meant that the East Africa nation will have to wait five more years before it can reap the benefits of its much treasured oil resources
Total E&P Uganda general manager Loic Laurandel told Ad Hoc Committee on oil, “We have to wait for a minimum of four and half years. Oil production is expected in 2017.”
French oil firm Total joined Uganda’s oil sector in February this year, after signing a US$2.9bn deal that transferred two thirds of Tullow Oil’s assets in Uganda to both Total and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).
After first discovering oil in Uganda’s western Albertine rift basin in 2006, the African republic and Tullow Oil initially planned to commence oil production by 2009, which was subsequently pushed back to 2010 and later to 2012.
Laurandel explained that Uganda’s landlocked position has caused significant challenges in importing necessary equipment.
He added that any oil that may be produced prior to 2017 will be used to fuel the country’s heavy industries.
Moses Kalisa Seruwagi
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