The Ugandan government and two international oil firms, France’s Total Energies and China’s CNOOC, are due on Tuesday to announce a final investment decision (FID) that will kick-start investments required to start producing crude oil.
“Announcement of the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the L. Albert Oil Projects,” Total Energies said on its Twitter account early on Tuesday. “The FID announcement signifies the commitment of the oil companies to invest over US$ 10 Billion to develop Uganda’s oil and gas resources.”
Despite discovering crude oil reserves in its west near the DRC border in 2006, Uganda has repeatedly delayed commercial production due to a lack of infrastructure and disagreements between the government and oil companies over taxes and development strategy.
According to government geologists, the country has 6 billion barrels in gross reserves and 1.4 billion barrels in recoverable reserves.
In order to export its crude, landlocked Uganda will build the world’s longest electrically heated pipeline, connecting Tanzania with a port on the Indian Ocean.