Uganda refinery to see FID in February 2022

A project to build Uganda’s first refinery is expected to reach a final investment decision in February 2022, the country’s NOC tweeted on Friday.

Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) confirmed the revised FID date for the facility, which will be built in Kabaale in the oil-rich Hoima District.

The early-2022 target was floated by UNOC’s Peter Muliisa in an interview with The Energy Year in October.

A FEED study for the project, led by Italy’s Saipem, was set to be complete last month. Under current plans, the refinery will process 60,000 bpd and will be connected to Kampala by pipeline.

The refinery is being built by the Albertine Graben Refinery Consortium, which comprises Saipem and Italian GE subsidiary Nuovo Pignone International along with Yaatra Africa, Lionworks Group and Intracontinent Asset Holdings of Mauritius.

Output from the refinery will feed domestic demand as well as being exported to neighbouring countries.

Uganda first discovered oil in 2006 in the Albertine Rift Basin. The refinery is part of the government’s efforts to ensure value addition as it develops the country’s estimated 1.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil.