Overview
- Officials say Cnooc’s Kingfisher field will start commercial flows at about 25,000 barrels a day in December and rise to roughly 40,000 barrels a day within six months while TotalEnergies’ larger Tilenga project is expected to begin production in the first quarter of 2027.
- Ugandan crude will travel to the port of Tanga through the roughly 1,450–1,500 kilometer East Africa pipeline that is designed to be heated along its length to move the waxy, low‑sulfur Pearl Sweet grade.
- Uganda National Oil Company has appointed Vitol to market Pearl Sweet and says the grade will be priced against Brent, initially at a small discount with the potential to trade higher depending on demand.
- The government is pursuing a 60,000 barrels‑per‑day Kabaale refinery with a final investment decision targeted around February and intends to export most crude while the refinery is built before prioritizing domestic supply once it opens.
- Environmental, social and legal disputes remain active, including large‑scale displacement and operations near Murchison Falls National Park, and those disputes could affect project timelines, financing and local livelihoods.