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Uganda to wrap up bidding round next year
UGANDA
UGANDA’S government hopes to sign con- tracts for the five blocks included in its second licensing round by the end of 2020, according to Energy Minister Irene Muloni.
In an interview with Bloomberg Television on October 22, Muloni said that the licensing round was designed to help Uganda attract the investment needed to develop its oil sector. “There is a lot of money that needs to be sunk into exploration and development before you go into production,” she said. “We hope by the end of next year, we will have new investors for these five blocks.”
The minister did not reveal whether any potential investors had yet expressed interest in the upcoming auctions. She was speaking during a roadshow presentation of the blocks, which lie within the Albertine Graben, in Dubai.
Uganda held its first licensing round in 2015 and has signed contracts with a number of international oil companies (IOCs), includ- ing but not limited to Tullow Oil (UK/Ireland), Total (France) and China National Offshore Oil
Corp. (CNOOC). Muloni noted on October 22 that these investors had already pledged to pump more than $3bn into their projects.
She also acknowledged, though, that Tullow, Total and CNOOC had postponed a final investment decision (FID) on development of the EA1, EA2 and EA3 blocks in the Lake Albert region. The partners are now sched- uled to meet this milestone by the end of the first quarter of 2020 and will achieve first oil in 2023, she said.
Uganda will export oil from these blocks and other sites via a 1,440-km pipeline to Tanzania, she added. Kampala intends to take a 15% stake in the pipeline, which will terminate at the port of Tanga, while Tullow may take 10%, she said. CNOOC and Total are also considering invest- ing in the project, and Tanzania’s government may do the same, she stated.
The second licensing round includes the following sites: Avivi, which covers an area of 1,026 square km; Kasuruban, 1,285 square km; Ngaji, 1,230 square km; Omuka, 750 square km, and Turaco, 635 square km.
Image: Uganda Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development
POLICY
Sylva comments on Nigeria’s $62bn claim
NIGERIA
NIGERIA’S government earlier this month had demanded compensation from international oil companies (IOCs), saying that it was entitled to lay claim to $62bn in lost revenues on the basis of a contract law adopted in 1993 and a Supreme Court ruling issued in 2018.
Last week, though, Minister of State for
Petroleum Resources Timipre Sylva signalled that Abuja was tempering its expectations for the recovery of this sum.
Speaking to journalists after a weekly meet- ing of Nigeria’s cabinet, Sylva said that the gov- ernment did not anticipate the recovery of all the funds it had claimed.
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