High prospects for oil reserves in Hoima, Karamoja

By Pascal Kwesiga & Benedict Okethwengu

KAMPALA - There are high prospects of finding huge commercial deposits of oil in areas around Hoima town and Moroto district in eastern Uganda, the Government has said.

Areas with high prospects around Hoima town are located in the Hoima sedimentary basin, while those in Moroto are in the Kadam-Moroto sedimentary basin.

The Hoima and Kadam-Moroto sedimentary basins are part of the six areas, which geological studies in the 1990s showed could be having oil deposits, according to state minister for minerals Peter Lokeris.

The other sedimentary basins include the Albertine, Lake Victoria, Lake Kyoga and Lake Wamala. However, according to Lokeris, the Albertine basin is the most productive so far.

The minister told New Vision that the Government had deployed geoscientists around Hoima town and the Kadam-Moroto basin to carry out conclusive studies.

He said the Government had decided to begin with Hoima and Kadam-Moroto basins because they have high prospects, if the 1990s studies are anything to go by.

“We will also go back to lakes Victoria, Kyoga and Wamala for similar studies, but these areas are not as promising as the Hoima and Kadam-Moroto basins. If commercial oil deposits are not confirmed, we shall abandon them.”
 

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State minister for minerals Peter Lokeris

Lokeris was speaking during the launch of a two-year project by the Africa Institute for Energy Governance and National Association of Professional Environmentalists to mobilise the youth to demand for accountability in the oil industry at Grand Imperial Hotel in Kampala on Friday.

 A senior communications officer in the petroleum exploration and production department, Gloria Sebikari, told New Vision that Hoima sedimentary basin covers areas near Hoima town along the Hoima-Kampala highway.

A total of 6.5 billion barrels of oil have so far been discovered in the Albertine graben.

Only 40% of Albertine basin has been explored for oil. The Government plans to give out more exploration licenses to oil companies next year.


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