Recently elected Kenya President Uhuru Kenyatta promised sweeping but expensive reforms during the campaigns and must be eager to have Kenya on the list of the world’s oil producers.

Exploration news coming out of Kenya this month indicates that the country will shelve the champagne, for now, as international oil companies intensify their treasure hunt on and offshore.

Last week, United States major Anadarko Petroleum Corp. announced it had failed to find oil in its ‘Kubwa’ well on Block L-07 offshore Kenya. Read More

Hon. Elly Karuhanga speaking at the summit (Photo: FN)

A section of Uganda’s business community has criticised a local content provision in the recently enacted Petroleum Exploration Development and Production Act 2013, that allows local businessmen to enter joint ventures with international firms servicing the oil and gas industry.  Read More

Joan Namukasa, a Tullow Oil Uganda drilling engineer, reviews technical reports with colleagues at a rig site (Photo: Tullow Oil Uganda)

It takes years of advanced, on-the-job training to qualify as an oil well drilling engineer—but three Ugandan women are staying the course, writes Cathy Adengo. Read More

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) announced on Tuesday that it had acquired Canada’s loss-making Nexen Inc., at a price of about 15 billion dollars.

This is the largest overseas acquisition ever made by a Chinese company, as China seeks to deepen its footprint in developed countries.

According to Xinhua News Agency, China’s three major energy companies-China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and CNOOC – closed acquisition deals overseas worth a total of $25.4 billion in 2012. Read More

Ghana’s  45,000 bpd Tema Oil Refinery: The Uganda government has  reached an agreement with the oil companies to set up a similar facility, but  with less capacity.

The deadlock between the government of Uganda and international oil companies over the size of the refinery to be built in Hoima District has finally been broken, a senior government official has confirmed.

“The government and the oil companies have struck a deal that it should be 30,000 barrels a day,” Assistant Petroleum Commissioner Robert Kasande told Oil in Uganda in a telephone interview.

Previously, the government had wanted to start with a small refinery producing 20,000 barrels a day, and then progressively scale it up to 120,000 barrels per day. Oil companies argued that this was too ambitious and that the majority of the crude oil should be exported through a pipeline.  Read More

A sign at the entrance of a primary school built by Heritage Oil and Gas in Buhuka, Hoima District in the area that hosts the Kingfisher Oil wells (Photo:CM)

Uganda’s oil industry received two belated Easter presents this week that, according to government officials, place the country on a solid path towards oil production.

Amidst jubilation following Uganda’s reported victory in the tax arbitration case against Heritage Oil and Gas in London on Wednesday; junior Minerals Minister, Peter Lokeris, revealed that President Yoweri Museveni had finally signed the Petroleum (Exploration, Development, Production) 2012 Bill, into law. Read More

Ngara Waste Storage Site in Buliisa District operated by Tullow Oil Uganda.

Could drilling waste produced by Uganda’s oil wells be put to use in construction and agriculture rather than just being buried? 

In theory, yes, writes Beatrice Ongode, citing examples from other countries; but in practice it will depend on whether it is economically viable to first treat and process the waste. Read More

45 % of the respondents said they were facing increasing difficulty in accessing firewood  due to oil activity (Photo: S. Wandera-Kigorobya, Hoima)

The majority of the communities in the Albertine Region are unhappy with the oil companies operating there, according to findings of a study commissioned by International Alert, an international peace-building NGO.

When asked if they were “satisfied with the interaction/dialogue with oil companies”, 62 % of the respondents said they were not.  An even bigger proportion (80 %) reported that they were particularly concerned that the oil companies had not released any statement to address any of their concerns. Read More

A Lake Albert fisherman guts his catch. The fishing sector  will be  one of the   casualities of poor oil waste management in the Albertine. (Photo: Thomas White)

With the government estimating that Uganda’s Albertine Graben holds at least 3.5 billion barrels of oil, expectations of many Ugandans are high—but so too are fears of environmental damage.

Other natural resources already generate revenue in the oil-rich region.  It is home to premier tourist destinations, including the Queen Elizabeth, Murchison Falls and Semiliki national parks. And, experts agree, it is also an ecologically ‘sensitive’ area.

A major oil spill or a fire at an oil well could result in environmental catastrophe.  But, as well as fearing such a nightmare scenario, Ugandan environmentalists also worry about how the country will manage a predictable and certain result of oil production—the generation of large amounts of oil waste. Read More

Rtd.Bishop Baker Ocholla (Photo: CM)

Ugandan delegates attending a two-day Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) Implementation Conference in Kampala have expressed their worry over government’s apparent reluctance to protect oil revenues from corrupt officials.

Reacting to the opening speech by Uganda’s junior Minister for Finance in charge of investments, Hon. Aston Kajara, several Ugandan delegates observed that government had not instituted adequate measures to safe guard oil revenue, yet the Public Finance Bill would be tabled soon. Read More