Finance Ministry Positive Oil & Gas Will Resuscitate Economy
- Written by Baz Waiswa
- Published in Oil and Gas
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The Kingfisher oil field is expected to have a maximum production of 40,000 barrels of oil per day for five years after which, production will begin to decline.
The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED) is optimistic that the oil and gas industry which is has reached the development phase will spur the recovery of the country’s economy.
Ramathan Ggoobi, the Permanent Secretary & Secretary to the Treasury at MoFPED, recently speaking at the Dialogue on Public Debt & Development in Kampala said growth will be driven primarily by activities in oil & gas sector.
Ggoobi also revealed that the real GDP growth will increase to over 7 percent at the start of commercial oil production.
Uganda discovered oil and gas in the Albertine Graben in western Uganda in 2006 but hasn’t been able to pump it out of the ground. Despite the delays, the country was able to reach a Final Investment Decision early 2022 teeing off the investment of about $15bn.
Oil majors TotalEnergies from France and Chinese CNOOC are developing oil fields in Albertine Graben under the projects Tilenga and Kingfisher respectively.
In January, China's CNOOC launched the drilling programme for the first production well in the fields. TotalEnergies is expected to do the same soon so as to enable the country becomes an oil producer in 2025, the new set target.
Uganda is also progressing well in its ambition of constructing a crude export pipeline in partnership with Tanzania. The 1444km-long heated pipeline will carry crude from Hoima to the port of Tanga for export.
Uganda, through Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), signed a MoU with Sonatrach, the State Oil Company of Algeria, to cooperate in the Upstream, Midstream (refining and petrochemicals), Downstream, capacity building, and Oil & Gas Services.
President Yoweri Museveni who witnessed the signing of the MoU said Uganda is looking at Algeria to invest ‘in our refinery.’
“We want to build an inland refinery. It is absolutely necessary because it will cut transport costs seeing that we are far away from the coast,” he said in a brief update during his recent tour of the Maghreb nation.
