UGANDA WILL OPEN a new round of licensing for oil exploration companies to operate in its oil-rich Lake Albertine rift basin later this year as it seeks to accelerate the development of its oil sector, Ugandas prime minister has said.

UK INDEPENDENT TULLOW Oil is close to signing an agreement with Uganda now that the countrys elections have taken place, one of the company’s directors said, paving the way for a $10bn oil project to begin.

Uganda is likely to issue an oil production licence by the middle of this year, a senior government official has said.

In December 2010, following interpretation studies of the aero gravity gradiometry survey (GGI) and further detailed analysis of all well data, Tower announced an operational update which highlighted the following important conclusions: