Uganda has commenced drilling operations on its first commercially viable oil operation, an Uganda Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The East African country said it had commissioned the first of four planned rigs in the discovery, and started drilling the country’s very first commercial well in hopes of reaching first production by 2025.
The Kingfisher oilfield in the Kikuube district is a CNOOC-operated field, but co-owned with TotalEnergies and Uganda’s state-run oil company, UNOC. [emphasis, links added]
The project has suffered numerous delays after Uganda discovered the reserves almost 20 years ago. But a lack of pipeline infrastructure in the country has, until now, proved to be an insurmountable hurdle.
The head of the state-run petroleum sector regulator Petroleum Authority of Uganda, Ernest Rubondo, described the progress in the fields as a “milestone in the journey toward the production of first oil in Uganda.”
Breakeven costs are expected to be $22 per barrel, with peak production expected at about 230,000 barrels per day.
Construction will also start this year on the nearly 900-mile East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline, also planned by CNOOC and TotalEnergies, which has been described as the world’s longest heated oil pipeline. It, too, should be complete by 2025.
Total holds a 62% stake in the pipeline project, with UNOC and CNOOC carrying 15% each.
The project received pushback from the EU’s parliament last year, which called for a maximum pressure campaign against the project on Ugandan authorities “to protect the environment and to put an end to the extractive activities in protected and sensitive ecosystems, including the shores of Lake Albert.”
Uganda is also looking to develop its refinery business, with a 60,000 BPD refinery expected to be built in Uganda’s midwest, although has suffered numerous delays as well.
Read more at OilPrice.com
The industrial nations achieved our wealth through the use of fossil fuels. As Germany has discovered maintaining this wealth requires continued use of such fuels. Trying to prevent Uganda from doing so is immoral. Uganda is a sovereign nation and the European Union has no right to tell them what they can’t do within their own boarders.
Makes it all sound so easy, drill a hole and get oil.
I was in the area when Gidgealpa 1 was drilled. (North-east corner of South Australia, now named “Moomba”) They were too far off the top of the structure and came up with a water well. Really bad water. The big rig workers were ordered to “Don’t even use this water in vehicle radiators.” Gidgealpa 2 brought in natural gas.
We, United Geophysical Party 133, a seismic survey crew, were expected to drink that water. That lasted less than 24 hours, and I made some good money with overtime hours bringing in drinking water from Coopers Creek. Memories – from 60 years ago. (Yes, I was there when the Page family perished, and did get to meet Tom Kruze MBE. See “Tom Kruze mailman” at Wikipedia.)
Uganda needs to tell the Euroweenie Union to Get a Life