Page 10 - DMEA Week 06 2022
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DMEA REFINING DMEA
Ugandan minister holds talks
with refinery developers
AFRICA UGANDA’S energy minister held talks this required by law,” she said. She also asked that
week with the consortium developing the coun- pending activities be expedited “so that the refin-
try’s first oil refinery, days after a final invest- ery FID can also be undertaken.”
ment decision (FID) was taken on the project In August, the Africa Finance Corp. (AFC)
to develop the larger of the two fields that will advanced $20mn for the facility’s construction.
provide feedstock for the plant. The African Development Bank (AfDB), Pros-
Minister of Energy and Mineral Develop- per Africa and Trace and Development Agency
ment Ruth Nankabirwa made a visit to Italy this are also expected to provide financing for the
week to discuss the status of the 60,000 barrel per refinery.
day (bpd) refinery at Kabale in Hoima district In the first quarter of 2021, the Ugandan
with the Albertine Graben Refinery Consortium government signed a package of agreements
(AGRC). The group holds a 60% share in the with TotalEnergies (France), China National
$4bn refinery project with the remainder held by Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and the govern-
the Uganda National Oil Co. (UNOC) through ment of Tanzania on the construction of the East
its Uganda Refinery Holding Co. (URHC) Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP). Those doc-
subsidiary. uments outlined plans for the construction of a
AGRC is comprised of US-based Baker- 1,443-km heated pipeline, the longest of its kind
Hughes GE, Italy’s Saipem, and Mauritian-reg- in the world, capable of pumping 216,000 bpd
istered Yaatra Africa and Lionworks Group. of crude from Hoima in western Uganda to the
“I am delighted [to] work with AGRC, which port of Tanga on Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast.
started with the signing of the Project Frame- Then in November 2021, CNOOC took the
work Agreement (PFA) for refinery project on step of making a final investment decision (FID)
April 10, 2018,” Nankabirwa said. “The refinery on Kingfisher, which will eventually yield more
FID in the amended PFA was expected within than 40,000 bpd of oil.
41 months from effective date of the agreement Last week, TotalEnergies joined its partners
which falls on February 7, 2022,” she added. in reaching the FID stage on Tilenga, a consid-
The minister commended AGRC for reach- erably larger field that is slated to produce about
ing the pre-front-end engineering and design 204,000 bpd of crude from about 400 wells
(Pre-FEED) performance bond milestones and drilled from more than 30 pads. It will provide
for completing and submitting the final FEED most of the throughput for the EACOP link,
study last year. and as such, the decision to proceed with work
“I urge the consortium to closely work with at Tilenga has freed the French major and its
govt to address the comments raised on the partners in the EACOP consortium – CNOOC,
report to facilitate approval of the FEED by UNOC and Tanzania Petroleum Development
the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) as Corp. (TPDC) – to make an FID of their own.
P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 06 10•February•2022
