Uganda to launch third oil exploration licensing round

The government of Uganda has announced plans to launch its third petroleum exploration licensing round. Energy and Mineral Development Minister Ruth Nankabirwa revealed the plans and said the launch will be done in the 2025/2026 fiscal year (July-June).

The new round will open additional areas for oil and gas exploration, although details on the specific regions—whether in the Albertine Graben or the northern and northeastern basins—have not been disclosed.

Uganda, which discovered crude oil in the Albertine Graben nearly two decades ago, expects production to start this year. The government has selected a winner to redevelop the Kilembe copper mine, located near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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Boost in oil and gas industry

The final negotiations for the redevelopment are nearing completion, and an announcement is expected soon. The mine holds an estimated 4 million tonnes of ore, with grades of 1.98% copper and 0.17% cobalt. The mine has been dormant since the early 1970s due to low copper prices and political instability, following its abandonment by Canadian firm Falconbridge.

These initiatives underscore Uganda’s efforts to rejuvenate its mining sector and expand its oil and gas industry. Uganda has 6.5 billion barrels of oil reserves, with about 1.4 billion estimated to be economically recoverable. The reserves are mostly located in western Uganda, along the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Kingfisher and Tilenga basins in the Lake Albert Basin are active areas for oil development.

Development drilling for Uganda’s East Africa Crude Oil Project has been underway since mid-2023. As of August 2024, the Tilenga project had completed 63 of the 426 planned wells, and the Kingfisher project had drilled nine production wells.