Uganda is set to issue an international tender for the five remaining exploration oil blocks in the Albertine Graben later this year as it seeks to establish the exact size of its oil reserves, a senior government official said Friday.
Uganda is set to issue an international tender for the five remaining
exploration oil blocks in the Albertine Graben later this year as it seeks to
establish the exact size of its oil reserves, a senior government official said
Friday.
As the country has already established huge commercial oil reserves, the blocks
are to be offered through a competitive bidding process, said Ernest Rubondo,
who heads
Uganda
's
Petroleum Exploration and Production Department.
"We gave out the current licenses when we were not sure of the size of our
reserves. It's now our turn to negotiate for better contracts for the remaining
blocks," he told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview.
The Albertine Graben covers an area in excess of 20,000 square kilometers with
a sediment thickness of 5,000 meters, only 30% of which has been explored, he
added.
Uganda
has
set both short- and long-term plans for the region. In the short term, the
government is aiming to generate at least 50 megawatts of power from the gas
and oil produced during the appraisal stage, which starts this year, in a bid
to ease the country's power shortage. In the long term, the government wants to
set up an oil refinery to meet domestic and regional oil requirements.
"Currently, we have contracted a competent company to carry out a feasibility
study on which kind of refinery is suitable for the country," he said,
adding that the study would advise, among other things, on the capacity of the
refinery.
Foster Wheeler AG (FWLT) has been contracted to conduct the study.
Διαβάστε ακόμα
Τετ, 16 Οκτωβρίου 2024 - 20:09
Τετ, 16 Οκτωβρίου 2024 - 20:06
Τρι, 15 Οκτωβρίου 2024 - 17:24
Τρι, 15 Οκτωβρίου 2024 - 17:21
Δευ, 14 Οκτωβρίου 2024 - 18:15