Uganda announces new Albertine Graben bid round

Explorers are likely to benefit from infrastructure being put in place for the existing crude export project

Uganda is offering five new exploration blocks in a second licensing round in the Albertine Graben, the area around Lake Albert, where China's CNOOC, France's Total and UK-based Tullow are developing a 216,000bl/d crude export project Uganda's energy minister, Irene Muloni, told an oil conference in Nairobi, Kenya that she expected strong interest in the round given the current high oil price and that the cost of finding oil in Uganda was relatively low. This cost is currently at under $1/bl in the country compared to a world average of $2/bl, according to a post on the ministry's Facebook page. "I am very pleased to announce that my five new brides are ready. They are very attractive and