Uganda launches first oil drilling programme

Uganda officially launched an oil drilling programme.

The Kingfisher field is part of a $10 billion scheme to develop Uganda's oil reserves under a lake in the west of the country and build a vast pipeline to ship the crude to international markets via an Indian Ocean port in Tanzania.

"The president Yoweri Museveni has officially commissioned the start of drilling campaign on the Kingfisher oilfield," the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) said, describing the development as a "milestone".

The Kingfisher field, operated by the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), is expected to produce 40,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak, PAU said.

The discovery of oil at Lake Albert in 2006 sparked high hopes of an economic boost for Uganda.

There are an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of crude under the lake, of which about 1.4 billion are recoverable. The reserves are expected to last up to 30 years, with production peaking at 230,000 barrels a day.

The overall project is being jointly developed by CNOOC as well as France's TotalEnergies, along with the state-owned Uganda National Oil Company.

However, the plans to tap the oil at Lake Albert, a 160-kilometre  long body of water separating Uganda from the Democratic Republic of Congo, have run into strong opposition from rights activists and environmental groups.

Uganda issued a licence for the construction of a $3.5 billion heated pipeline that will run from Lake Albert to the Tanzanian port of Tanga.