Uganda is in talks with an investment company led by Dubai’s royal family to develop a $4 billion refinery, its Energy minister said on Tuesday.
In July, the country stopped negotiations with a consortium that included a unit of U.S. firm Baker Hughes, due to its inability to mobilise funds quickly.
The country hopes to make a windfall from its 60,000 barrel-per-day refinery.
“Expressions of interest were received from several potential investors and they were evaluated … following which a memorandum of understanding was signed on the 22 of December 2023,” Minister of Energy and Mineral Development Ruth Nankabirwa said at a press briefing.
Commencing negotiations on January 16, the government and United Arab Emirates-based Alpha MBM Investments said they hope to seal the deal before April, 2024.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum, a member of Dubai’s royal family heads the Alpha MBM Investments.
The East African nation hopes to commence commercial production in 2025 from fields in the Albertine rift basin in the country’s west near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The fields are jointly operated by the Ugandan government through the state-run Uganda National Oil Company, China’s CNOOC and France’s Total Energies.
