Uganda has signed an agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-based Alpha MBM Investments LLC to construct its first oil refinery in the western Albertine Graben region.
According to a statement issued by the State House late Saturday, Alpha MBM Investments will hold a 60 percent stake in the refinery, located in Kabaale in Uganda’s western Hoima District. The remaining 40 percent will be retained by the state-run Uganda National Oil Company.
The signing of the agreement, witnessed by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni at the State House in Entebbe, 40 km south of Kampala, the country’s capital, marks a significant milestone in Uganda’s emerging oil and hydrocarbons sector, the statement noted.
“This oil refinery is not just about fuel; it is about Uganda producing and exporting refined products instead of importing,” the statement quoted Museveni as saying. “We must stop exporting raw materials and instead add value to everything we produce.” The refinery, a 4-billion-U.S.-dollar project, is expected to have a processing capacity of 60,000 barrels per day.
The project includes a state-of-the-art refinery complex in Kabaale and a 212-km multiproduct pipeline connecting the refinery to a modern storage terminal in Namwabula in the central Mpigi District. Uganda discovered 6.5 billion barrels of oil in 2006, of which 1.4 billion barrels are considered commercially viable, according to figures from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development. Enditem
Source: Xinhua
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