Uganda's Energy Minister Announces Potential New Oil Reserves in Moroto-Kadam Basin

Ruth Nankabirwa, Uganda’s Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, announced on August 20, 2024, that preliminary exploration studies in the Moroto-Kadam Basin in eastern Uganda indicate potential commercial quantities of oil and gas.

Nankabirwa shared the news during a mid-year media briefing on the country's oil and gas sector. She highlighted that her ministry is also conducting similar surveys in the Kyoga Basin in central Uganda, with plans to extend exploration to the Hoima Basin in the west. Uganda currently holds 6.5 billion barrels of petroleum resources.

The minister outlined the key objectives of these exploration efforts: to increase Uganda's petroleum reserves, extend production beyond 25 years, and bolster midstream projects like the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). The EACOP project, led by TotalEnergies, involves drilling 419 wells in western Uganda and constructing a 1,443-kilometer heated pipeline to transport oil from Lake Albert to the Tanzanian coast.

As Uganda nears the production phase, the government is counting on the oil and gas sector to significantly contribute to the country’s economic development.