Authorities in India have confessed that Africa’s rapid expansion of the hydrocarbon sector has led the Asian country to focus on the continent as a vital region for sourcing petroleum products in coming years. India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Dharmendra Pradhan speaking at the 4th India-Africa Hydrocarbons Conference in Delhi recently said Indian oil companies now have keen interest in Africa because of the continent’s hydrocarbon potential. The 2-day Conference attracted government and private sector officials from some of Africa’s oil producing countries in the north and those African nations which are emerging as oil producers like Uganda, Kenya and Ghana. “As a matter of policy, the present Indian government is keen to move towards a geographically diversified energy basket. This has resulted in India's greater focus on Africa as a vital region for sourcing petroleum products in coming years,” Pradhan stated at the opening of the…

East Africa’s leading minds in the field of oil and gas will on March 30th & 31st 2016, meet at the 5th Annual East Africa Oil & Gas Summit 2016. The summit will be held at Hyatt Regency Hotel, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to discuss how best the region can develop the nascent industry. While the oil business is going through a torrid time, interest in East Africa’s Oil & Gas market remains higher than ever. The region has in the last decade made significant oil and gas discoveries to warranty investment returns. Uganda and Kenya are steadily advancing in exploration of oil while Tanzania is big on gas. Rwanda and Burundi are tagging along with high their own high prospects of finding commercially viable discoveries. Uganda in particular expects to start oil production in the next five years. Kenya is moving a little bit faster. Respective countries in…

French oil and gas exploration firm Total E&P has said they will continue pursuing their agenda in Uganda despite the global industry instability that has seen crude oil price slump to a record low of below $27 per barrel. “Total remains committed to work towards producing the Ugandan oil resources as soon as possible because Uganda oil resources are potentially low-cost resources which will be competitive in the market,” Adewale Fayemi, Total E&P’s country representative to Uganda told Daily Monitor in an interview. He explained that when you consider the resources used to produce oil in Uganda and compare to places that need deep off-shore facilities, Uganda is cheap and competitive. “Today, we are not talking about whether the resources are available. It is clear what the resources are and how to produce the resource, we know. So it is not about resource speculation. We continue to develop the oil…

Uganda risks straining its already fragile bilateral relations with neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) if government in Kampala goes ahead with its oil exploration plans in the Albertine region. On 24th February, 2015 the government of Uganda announced the country’s first open competitive licensing round for petroleum exploration covering six blocks in the Ablertine region, western Uganda. One of the six blocks, Ngaji, covering 895 Km2, if developed for oil production could have a devastating impact on Virunga National Park in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and its ecosystem. Virunga National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to some of Africa’s most iconic and endangered species including mountain gorillas, reptiles,various bird species and forestry. In 2014 British Oil Company Soco International carried out seismic testing for oil on the Congolese side of Lake Edward, in Virunga, prompting widespread local opposition and an international outcry. Now over…