Nigerian oil companies show interest as Uganda prepares to produce its first oil

Solomon Ezeme

Six Nigerian oil and gas companies have indicated their interests in the Uganda oil sector at the ongoing 2021 International Trade Fair in Lagos, on Tuesday. The country is currently exploring its oil reserves and is expected to sell crude oil products to its citizens, by 2025.

This was disclosed by the Ugandan High Commissioner to Nigeria, Ambassador Nelson Ocheger who attended the event to showcase Uganda’s trade, investment and tourism opportunities.

“We have started exploring our oil reserves. We hope that by 2025, we will be able to start selling crude refined in Uganda.

“We are expecting to produce and it is very attractive to investors and six Nigerian companies have already shown interest,” Ocheger said.

The High Commissioner, during the 35th edition of the trade fair, also disclosed that Uganda has started some projects in readiness of the 2025 target, including the construction of an airport, a refinery and pipelines to transport oil.

He said the country is ready to produce soon and would be selling its oil for the first time by 2025, with production projected to rise in the next five years to 230,000 barrels per day, from zero in 2021.

He said, “We are currently constructing a refinery, we are building pipelines and an airport to service that industry in Western Uganda.”

The 14-day event which kicked off on November 5, was expected to have in attendance more than 200,000 visitors with around 1500 exhibitors from 16 different countries.