Laying infrastructure for production of Uganda’s oil on course
HOIMA, September 7, 2023 – Laying all the infrastructure needed for the production of Uganda’s oil and gas in the Albertine Graben is progressing well, according to government officials.
According to Ernest Rubondo, the executive director of Petroleum Authority Uganda [PAU], most persons affected by the East African Crude Oil Pipeline [EACOP] have been compensated, paving the way for infrastructural development.
He said acquiring the land for the oil projects currently stands at 99 percent, adding that a contractor who will lay the pipes for the EACOP has also been sourced.
Already, Rubondo said, the pipes for the EACOP project are being manufactured in China and are expected to arrive in East Africa by the end of this year. “After the arrival in East Africa, the pipes will be taken to Tanzania for coating where a coating plant has been built,” he said, adding the construction of the oil pipeline from Kabaale Sub-county in Hoima district to Tanga Port in Tanzania will start next year.
The implementers of EACOP projects are the Governments of Uganda and Tanzania, represented by Uganda National Oil Company [UNOC] and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation [TPDC] respectively, TotalEnergies, and China National Offshore Oil Corporation [CNOOC].
Rubondo added that TotalEnergies Uganda, an oil company contracted by the Government to develop the Tilenga upstream oil projects, has also started construction of a central processing facility in Buliisa district in preparation for the production of the first oil by 2025.
According to him, the central processing facility is one of the major facilities needed to produce Uganda’s oil.
He said they expect the facility to be ready by the end of 2024 to facilitate the production of oil and export it for the market.
The company has already acquired over 700 acres of land where it will have an industrial area to host several oil project facilities.
On drilling oil wells, he said they started with two wells and that they will start working on the third well by the end of this year.
Rubondo said the laying of the flow lines [pipes that will push oil from wells to the central processing facilities] also started recently.
He said the Tilenga and Kingfisher oil developments are on course, adding that facilities such as housing units to accommodate over 4,000 workers are being constructed while others are complete.
He added that once the central processing facility is completed, the oil will be processed and transported through feeder pipelines to the delivery point in Kabalega Industrial Park in Kabaale Sub-county in Hoima district.
These facilities will produce 230,000 barrels of oil at a plateau from the fields of Ngiri, Jobi-Rii, Gunya, Mputa-Nzizi-Waraga, Kasemene-Wahrindi, Kigogole-Ngara and Ngege in the Albertine Graben.
Over 400 oil wells will be drilled on 31 well pads to produce oil and gas resources.
Peter Lokeris, the State Minister for Mineral Development who ended his two-day visit to the Tilenga project recently said that with the current progress, the government will achieve its dream of producing its first oil by 2025.
“This is a very big job done here. The CPF which is being constructed for the project is like a heart for the human being, which pumps blood in the body. Once this CPF gets completed, we shall start getting oil from the ground,” he said.
Lokeris urged Ugandans to get hands-on as well as entrepreneurship skills if they are to benefit from oil production. He urged Ugandans to engage in commercial production to be able to supply goods and services to the market created by the industry.
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