President Yoweri Museveni has said that Uganda is now ready to commercialize oil production despite the delays. Museveni was speaking during the virtual 6th Oil and gas Convention in Kampala.
“Dr Pombe Magufuli and I agreed to commence negotiations of all pending oil agreements with immediate effect and to expedite the implementation of the East African crude oil pipeline project. So we can confidently say that we are ready for the commercialization of Uganda's oil,” Museveni said.
He added that the government of Uganda is not only committed to delivering first oil, but it is also only committed that the resources are used sufficiently. “I know there are some countries in Africa which discovered the Oil later than us but quickly went into production, but for us, we preferred to go slow and understand the industry. And now we understand it and have big capacity,” Museveni said adding that government now has laws in place to govern the downstream, upstream and midstream.
Museveni said that government has granted the Albertine Graben Refinery Consortium an additional 17 months to complete the environmental and social impact assessment and the front engineering design for the project. The oil pipeline will run from Buseruka sub-county in Hoima and run for 1445kms to the Tanzanian port of Tanga and when completed, it will be the World's longest heated oil pipeline.
On the other hand, Pierre Jessua General Manager, Total E&P Uganda said Total is implementing capacity-building programs to equip the locals in the oil and gas sector.
“There is a lot of work, but there is nothing that can stop it. We have some hard work to do, but we have proved to be very efficient in moving things forward in recent months,” he said.
