Uganda’s recoverable oil has increased to 1.65 billion barrels from 1.4 billion, the Petroleum Authority of Uganda announced recently, adding to the excitement as the country moves closer to commercial production by July 2026.
The increase in Uganda’s oil resources, explored over less than half the prospective area in the Albertine graben, boosts the country’s outlook as the latest major frontier in Africa’s energy market, which might attract investors into the sector.
Ernest Rubondo, the executive director of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda, said the new oil resources were noticed from improved data collection and updated evaluations of existing discoveries in the Albertine graben.
The announcement came as PAU celebrated 10 years of its existence. Uganda is currently building an underground heated crude oil export pipeline to the Tanzanian port of Tanga to move the oil to the market.
The export pipeline, whose shareholders are France’s TotalEnergies, China’s CNOOC, the Uganda National Oil Company, and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation, will move a distance of 1,443km, and will cost nearly $4 billion. The pipeline is expected to move nearly 220,000 barrels of oil per day.
Uganda is also developing an oil refinery that is expected to produce 60,000 barrels of oil per day at peak. The oil refinery has the first right of call on the resources, ahead of the pipeline.
Rubondo said that activities such as finalizing the design of the refinery, pre commissioning studies, securing financing and establishing the refinery company have already been completed, laying the groundwork for a fully functional refinery.
There was a worry that the resources might not be enough for both the pipeline and the oil refinery. The recent increase in the oil resources is set to calm whatever tension there was between the pipeline and the refinery.
Rubondo said many Ugandan participants in the oil industry have benefited. Out of $7 billion in approved contracts, $2.2 billion has been awarded to Ugandan companies. Nearly 20,000 Ugandans are employed directly with more than 180,000 indirectly benefiting.