Uganda's oil dreams move closer to realisation

Production, pipeline and refinery projects are moving forward

The long quest to commercialise Uganda's sizable oil reserves seems to be coming to a head. Following a series of agreements, progress is finally gathering pace to unlock production, provide a prestige oil refinery and ensure a pipeline needed to get oil to international markets gets built. In late April, Uganda and Tanzania said they would sign an intergovernmental accord by the end of June to speed up construction of the $3.5bn crude oil export pipeline from landlocked Uganda to Tanzania's Indian Ocean port of Tanga. A final investment decision (FID) for the 1,445m-long pipeline is now expected by the end of 2018, some six months earlier than originally envisaged, according to Irene Muloni