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Uganda: Why Govt Picked Russian Firm for Oil Refinery

Photo: Amnesty International (file photo). Government yesterday picked a Russian-led international consortium led by RT Global Resources as the preferred bidder for the construction of the country’s oil refinery. The other company which lost out, SK Engineering and Construction Co. Ltd from the Republic of South Korea, was retained as the alternative preferred bidder. RT Global Resources is a subsidiary of Rostec, a Russian arms manufacturer. Members of the consortium include; VTB, Capital Plc, a subsidiary of VTB, the second largest Russian state-owned bank, Telconet Capital Ltd Partnership, Tatneft JSC and GS Engineering Construction Corporation (South Korea). While members of the SK Engineering and Construction-led consortium include: SK KDB Global Investment Partnership, a private equity fund, China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd, Haldor Topsoe A/S and Mastro Oil and Gas Solutions (MOGAS). The selection of a preferred bidder for the refinery follows the submission of final offers from the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Uganda, Kenya to Build World's Longest Heated Oil Pipeline

Should Uganda and Kenya finally build a crude oil export pipeline, it will be the longest heated such facility in the world. According to a report released last month by Tullow Oil Plc, both countries have agreed to build the pipeline and have commenced a comprehensive study on the pipeline. "Tullow and its partners have agreed with the government of Kenya to commence development studies. In addition, the partnership is involved in a comprehensive study for an export pipeline," the Tullow Oil Plc annual report 2013 reads. According to the report, the export pipeline route on the Kenyan side is expected to run mostly underground, over 850 kilometres from the Lokichar basin to the coast. Kenya is to construct the pipeline from Lokichar basin while Uganda is expected to construct its part of the pipeline from the Lake Albert rift basin to link up with the Kenyan pipeline and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Uganda, Kenya to Build World’s Longest Heated Oil Pipeline

Should Uganda and Kenya finally build a crude oil export pipeline, it will be the longest heated such facility in the world. According to a report released last month by Tullow Oil Plc, both countries have agreed to build the pipeline and have commenced a comprehensive study on the pipeline. "Tullow and its partners have agreed with the government of Kenya to commence development studies. In addition, the partnership is involved in a comprehensive study for an export pipeline," the Tullow Oil Plc annual report 2013 reads. According to the report, the export pipeline route on the Kenyan side is expected to run mostly underground, over 850 kilometres from the Lokichar basin to the coast. Kenya is to construct the pipeline from Lokichar basin while Uganda is expected to construct its part of the pipeline from the Lake Albert rift basin to link up with the Kenyan pipeline and […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Tullow May Sell Part of Stake in Ugandan Oil Field

Africa-focused oil and gas explorer Tullow Oil PLC is considering selling part of its stake in a Ugandan oil field it is developing with France’s Total SA and China’s Cnooc Ltd. to focus on Kenya, where a more supportive government is helping a project there move faster, Tullow’s chief operating officer said Wednesday. It is the first time the company has disclosed it could look to sell a share in one of its prized assets. The project has been delayed for years and has weighed on the share price while the company and its partners hammered out a development plan with the Ugandan government. Tullow and partners struck an agreement with the Ugandan government on a development plan for the Lake Albert basin last month after years of talks. But in the meantime, a project to develop Kenya’s South Lockichar basin, which was discovered in 2012—five years after the […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Uganda takes major steps with oil majors

Ugandan Energy Minister Irene Muloni said Thursday signing agreements with international oil companies gives the country significant production opportunities. Muloni said Uganda is close to becoming a major oil producer with the signing of memorandums of understanding with Chinese, French and British oil companies. "The signing of the MOU is therefore a significant step toward the production of Uganda’s discovered oil and gas resources," she was quoted by the Ugandan newspaper the Independent as saying. Tullow Oil, a British exploration company involved in the agreements, published a report last year on its Ugandan developments. It said it has uncovered more than 1 billion barrels of oil in Uganda since operations began and most of that was in the country’s Lake Albert basin. Muloni said the agreements gives Uganda a "harmonized commercialization plan for the development" of its oil resources. She said the government […]

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Uganda Signs Deal With Foreign Companies to Develop Oil Sector

The government of Uganda has signed a long awaited deal with foreign oil companies to develop its oil sector, bringing to an end several years of protracted talks and opening the way for the development of the country’s crude oil reserves. The deal is based on a Memorandum of Understanding with U.K.’s Tullow Oil PLC, France’s Total SA and China’s Cnooc Ltd. cooperating on plans to develop the country’s oil sector. Those plans include a 60,000 barrels-a-day oil refinery, an oil export pipeline to Kenya’s northern port of Lamu and a crude-fired electricity plant in Uganda’s oil region, Irene Muloni, Uganda’s energy and minerals minister, told reporters in Kampala Thursday. The agreement between the energy multinationals and the Ugandan government could result in up to $15 billion to $17 billion in new investment, company officials said. The new investment will go toward the development of up to 20 […]

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Uganda Agrees on Deal to Develop Oil Sector

The government of Uganda has reached a deal with foreign oil companies to develop its oil industry, the country’s energy and minerals minister said Friday, ending a nearly three-year impasse and opening the way for a $15 billion investment. The government has agreed the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding with U.K.’s Tullow Oil PLC, France’s Total SA and China’s Cnooc Ltd. for the commercialization of the oil sector. The plans consists of a 60,000 barrels-day refinery, a crude export pipeline to Kenya’s northern port of Lamu and a crude-fired electricity plant in Uganda’s oil region, Irene Muloni said in a statement obtained by The Wall Street Journal Friday. The development paves way for a multibillion-dollar investment to develop the country’s oil fields, which are believed to contain up to 3.5 billion barrels of crude. Uganda contains sub-Sahara Africa’s fourth-largest amount of oil reserves, behind South Sudan, Angola […]

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Kenya, Uganda Scramble to Bring Peace to South Sudan

Kenya and Uganda were recruiting investors to back an oil pipeline in South Sudan in December when a rebellion upended the world’s newest nation. Now the two East African nations have joined a diplomatic effort to end the conflict in South Sudan —yet another reminder of how the security crises of a volatile region intrude on efforts to boost commerce among its countries. "I’m not sleeping," Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said in a televised address last week. "I am monitoring the crisis which is taking place in the young country of South Sudan and I want to see that peace is attained there." More than 1,000 people have died and more than 100,000 have fled their homes since troops loyal to former Vice President Riek Machar rose up in December against those loyal to President Salva Kiir . On Tuesday, South Sudanese military spokesman Philip Aguer said government troops […]

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Talks Don’t Halt South Sudan Conflict

South Sudan’s warring parties began talks Friday with mediators in Ethiopia, as both sides ignored calls for a cease-fire. Negotiators met separately with representatives from the regional trade block, known as the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, or IGAD in Addis Ababa. These preliminary talks aim to narrow differences that have led to clashes killing more than 1,000 people and displacing nearly 200,000. The mediators hope both sides of the conflict can hold direct talks on Saturday, according to a spokesman for Ethiopia’s foreign ministry, Dina Mufti. The modest beginning marks a breakthrough for African-led efforts to end more than two weeks of fighting in the world’s youngest nation. The conflict—which pits the country’s President Salva Kiir, against his former deputy, Riek Machar —threatens to render South Sudan along ethnic lines and upend its oil industry. Energy exports account for nearly all of South Sudan’s exports and foreign revenue. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Talks Don't Halt South Sudan Conflict

South Sudan’s warring parties began talks Friday with mediators in Ethiopia, as both sides ignored calls for a cease-fire. Negotiators met separately with representatives from the regional trade block, known as the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, or IGAD in Addis Ababa. These preliminary talks aim to narrow differences that have led to clashes killing more than 1,000 people and displacing nearly 200,000. The mediators hope both sides of the conflict can hold direct talks on Saturday, according to a spokesman for Ethiopia’s foreign ministry, Dina Mufti. The modest beginning marks a breakthrough for African-led efforts to end more than two weeks of fighting in the world’s youngest nation. The conflict—which pits the country’s President Salva Kiir, against his former deputy, Riek Machar —threatens to render South Sudan along ethnic lines and upend its oil industry. Energy exports account for nearly all of South Sudan’s exports and foreign revenue. […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple