Official: Uganda wants to increase hydropower capacity by 1,600 MW
An energy official announced on Wednesday that Uganda was seeking funding to build three hydropower stations, which would increase the country's power capacity by over 1,600 Megawatts (MW). Wamala Julius Nmusanga is a junior official in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development. He said that the East African nation has identified three possible sites along the Nile River, with the largest being the 840MW Ayago Hydropower Plan.
Uganda announces it will issue new oil exploration licenses in the next fiscal year
The finance minister announced on Wednesday that Uganda will issue new oil exploration licenses during the fiscal year 2025/2026, which runs from July to June. This is to boost investment in the sector as well as the overall economic growth. Early last year, the last licensing round for this east African nation launched in 2019 ended. The country awarded the final two blocks of the five offered.
UN chief warns that Africa's inability to access debt relief could lead to social unrest
The lack of resources and insufficient debt relief for African countries is a recipe to create social unrest. This was the conclusion reached by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday. He proposed new reforms to international financial institutions. In recent months, a growing debt crisis has sparked civil unrest across Africa's 1 billion people. Protests in Kenya where police clashed against demonstrators protesting proposed tax increases…
Tullow Decides $33 Mln Interim Payout
The board of British oil producer Tullow will pay an interim dividend of 2.35 cents per share, representing a payout of about $33 million, the company said on Wednesday, in line with plans to disburse at least $100 million a year.The dividend follows a first half in which Africa-focused Tullow doubled post-tax profit to $103 million, and a payout of around $67 million earlier in the year.
Tullow's Kenya, Uganda Projects Timelines Slip
Britain's Tullow Oil has delayed the final investment decision (FID) for its Kenya project to 2020 and has not yet sealed a tax deal in Uganda that is needed for the progress of its plans there with Total , it said on Wednesday.The company had aimed to give the final go-ahead by the end of 2019 for its onshore Kenyan oilfields, which are expected to produce up to 100,000 barrels per day.The…
Total Profits Take a Hit
French energy major Total said its net profit for the first three months of the year fell 4 percent to $2.8 billion compared with a year ago due to volatile oil prices and debt costs, despite record oil and gas output.The firm kept its investments, and cost savings target for the year unchanged, and said production growth should exceed 9 percent during the year, thanks to the ramp-up of projects started in 2018…
Tullow Oil Cuts Output Guidance
Tullow Oil downgraded its 2019 output guidance to 90,000-98,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) due to problems at its Ghana fields and sees final go-aheads for its Uganda in the second half while its Kenya project timeline was "ambitious"."(Ghana) performance was below expectations due to gas compression constraints on Jubilee during February and a delay in completing the Enyenra-10 production well at the TEN field.
Uganda, Saipem Take Next Steps for Refinery
Uganda approved Italian oil services firm Saipem's plan for early engineering work on what is due to become a 60,000 barrel per day refinery in the East African country, a nascent oil producer, Saipem said on Tuesday.In April last year, Uganda signed a deal with a consortium, including a subsidiary of General Electric, to build and operate a 60,000 barrel per day refinery that will cost $3 billion-$4 billion and is due to come online by 2023.The other members in the consortium, which e
Tullow Oil Returns to Net Profit
Africa-focused Tullow Oil reported its first annual net profit in five years on Wednesday and said it would resume dividends with a 4.8 cent per share payout as it sets its sights on East African projects and drilling in Guyana.As flagged in November, Tullow will pay out at least $100 million to shareholders from this year, while aiming to shrink its $3.1 billion debt and increase spending to $570 million.The largest chunk of that money will help increase output in Ghana…
Uganda Expects Delayed First Oil Production
Uganda expects to begin producing oil in 2022, its energy minister Irene Muloni said on Wednesday, indicating a slight delay from the east African country's revised target of 2021.Uganda discovered crude reserves more than 10 years ago but production has been repeatedly delayed by disagreements with field operators over taxes and development strategy.A lack of infrastructure such as a transportation…
Total Green-lights Ikike Oil Project in Nigeria
French oil group Total will approve plans to proceed with the Ikike project in Nigeria in the coming months, and also aims to expand its liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the country, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said on Monday.Total is one of the strongest players in the African oil sector, holding more proven reserves on the continent than any of the other top global oil companies.The 60,000…
Uganda Expects First Oil Production in 2021
Uganda expects to start producing oil in 2021, a year later than initially planned, and its refinery should be up and running by 2023, its oil minister said on Thursday.France's Total is an investor in Uganda's oilfields, with China's CNOOC and Britain's Tullow Oil."Our initial target was 2020. That seems to have slipped and we are looking now at 2021," Irene Muloni said at the Africa Oil Week conference in Cape Town.
Tullow: First Kenyan Crude Shipments in 2019
Africa-focused Tullow Oil expects the first crude shipments from its Kenyan oilfields in the first half of 2019 and is pricing the product for the market, the company's chief executive said on Tuesday.Paul McDade also told Reuters that Tullow, which has expanded beyond Africa to the coast of Guyana, was bringing forward its drilling plans for the South American country and was looking to drill at least two wells there in the middle of 2019.In Kenya…
Tullow Oil abandons First Namibian Well
Africa-focused Tullow Oil will abandon its first well in Namibia, but data gathered in the project indicated it might strike lucky in another attempt, it said on Monday."The Cormorant-1 exploration well in the PEL-37 licence, offshore Namibia, encountered non-commercial hydrocarbons and the well is being plugged and abandoned," Tullow said in a statement."Gas readings while drilling continue to support the concept that there is a working oil system in the area...
Tullow to Pay Seadrill $254 mln Over Ghana Dispute
A London judge ordered Tullow Oil to pay rig owner Seadrill around $254 million saying Tullow was wrong to end a rig contract in Ghana on grounds of force majeure over a maritime dispute, Tullow said on Tuesday.Tullow cancelled the contract for Seadrill's West Leo rig in December 2016 after Ghana set a drilling moratorium on its TEN offshore oil and gas field which is located in waters then…
China's CNOOC Sees Ugandan Oil Production Starting in 2021
Oil production in Uganda is likely to start in 2021 at the earliest, China's CNOOC said, giving a later date than the government's 2020 target.CNOOC, which is developing the fields in the west of the country with Britain's Tullow Oil and France’s Total , is aiming for a final investment decision this year so development can start, CNOOC spokeswoman Aminah Bukenya said."If we have the final investment decision taken this year…
Uganda to Finalize Oil Exploration Deal with Nigerian Firm
Uganda is set to sign on Thursday two oil production sharing agreements with a Nigerian firm, enabling the company to begin exploration work, the government said on Wednesday. The firm, Oranto Petroleum International, was among a number of companies that bid in the country's first competitive oil exploration licensing round last year, with two other Nigerian firms and Australia's Armour Energy also getting through to final negotiations for the award of the PSAs.
Uganda, Tanzania Constructing $3.5 Bln Oil Pipeline
The leaders of Tanzania and Uganda laid a foundation stone on Saturday for the construction of a $3.55 billion-crude export pipeline that would pump Ugandan oil for international markets. The 1,445 km-project - set for completion by 2020 - will stretch from landlocked Uganda's western region, where crude reserves were discovered in 2006, to Tanzania's Indian Ocean seaport of Tanga. The project will become "the longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline in the world…
Congo Defends Right to Explore for Oil in National Parks
Democratic Republic of Congo's oil minister on Thursday defended the country's right to explore for oil anywhere on its territory after media reports that President Joseph Kabila approved drilling in Africa's largest tropical rainforest reserve. Oil minister Aime Ngoy Mukena declined to confirm a report in Germany's Die Tageszeitung newspaper that Kabila had this month authorised exploration inside Salonga National Park, but he said that no land should be off-limits.
The EIC Celebrates 75th Anniversary
The Energy Industries Council (EIC), a trade association for companies that supply goods and services to the energy industries worldwide, celebrated its 75th anniversary on March 15, by holding an exclusive members’ afternoon tea at the House of Lords hosted by Lord Popat and with special guest of honor Minister of State for Trade and Export Promotion, Baroness Rona Fairhead. Approximately 100 EIC members…
