The Ugandan government has claimed that a number of Asian companies had shown an interest in the country’s refinery project after it relaxed export rules on crude oil
Earlier, Uganda had agreed with France’s Total and China’s CNOOC to build a refinery in the country.
According to a Forster Wheeler report, a refinery in Uganda would have a net present value of US$3.2bn and an investment rate of return of 33 per cent.
The East African country recently discovered close to 3.5bn barrels of oil reserves. Of this, up to 1.2bn barrels can be recovered, although with better technology, the amount can rise up to 1.7bn. According to government calculations, Uganda’s oil industry is worth US$150bn.
On an oil pipeline deal with Japan, Fred Kabagambe-Kaliisa, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, said, “We expect a report from Japan’s Toyota Tsusho Corporation next month, showing whether it is reasonable to build an oil export pipeline all the way to Lamu in Kenya, especially after government agreed that the oil firms can export up to 120,000 barrels of crude per day.
“It makes economic sense. We have always had issues with Mombasa port as it is congested. But Lamu is being developed as a port for oil exports,” he added.
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