Busoga Kingdom officials visit Albertine oil, gas projects

HOIMA - Cultural leaders from Busoga Kingdom have conducted a familiarisation tour of oil and gas project operations in the Albertine graben.

 The March 12-15, 2025 tour covered both the Kingfisher and Tilenga oilfield production facilities projects and Kabalega International Airport.

The officials first visited Pump Station one, the refinery area, the East African Crude Oil Pipeline project (EACOP), Central Processing Facility, one drilling well pad and Luwero waste management facility of the Kingfisher Oilfield Production Facility Project at Buhuka village, Kyangwali in Kikuube district plus Kabalega International airport on Thursday.

On Friday, they toured the Well pad 4 drilling area and Central Processing Facility in the Tilenga Oilfield Production area at Kasenyi village in Ngwedo sub-county in Buliisa district on Friday.

 Kingfisher oilfield

Edward Ochieng, the site lead of Pump Station One revealed that six pump stations are going to be constructed along the 1,445-kilometre East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) from Uganda to Tanga in Tanzania.

According to him, two pump stations will be constructed in Uganda and the other four pump stations in Tanzania. 

“We are concluding construction of concrete foundations then after we will install the Central Processing Facility and connect to EACOP— pre-commissioning will be in early 2026,” Ochieng said.      

Kenneth Babihemaiso, a social affairs officer at the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU), said work at the Central Processing Facility and industrial area is about 80% completed at Kingfisher adding that the Tilenga industrial area completion is at 56%.

Babihemaiso revealed that about 190,000 barrels of crude oil are expected to be produced from Tilenga oil field per day as well as 40,000 barrels are expected from Kingfisher.

Kabalega International Airport

Amos Muriisa, a senior public relations officer of SBC Uganda Limited which is constructing Kabalega International Airport, said features at the airport include terminal buildings, an airport rescue fire fighting facility and a 3.5km runway length.

“The whole stretch is 5 kilometres and has a width of 45 metres of asphalt and 15 metres of shoulders on either side making it 75 metres in total,” Muriisa said, adding that the airport apron is limited to four big cargo planes only.

Dave Bland, the operations safety supervisor at TotalEnergies, said pipeline construction is underway adding that when they drill and reach an oil well, they cover it with a concrete cap and move to another area and continue with drilling another well. (Credit: Donald Kiirya)

Muriisa said the airport will ease the work of transportation in the oil and gas industry equipment, especially for the refinery which he said are too huge and tall to be transported by trucks on the road.

He revealed that construction works of the airport are at 93% and the airport is expected to handle hand luggage and passengers too, adding that works for construction of the road to the airport are soon starting.

Tilenga oilfield

While at the Tilenga oilfield in Buliisa district, TotalEnergies corporate public relations and communication expert Judith Wangoic said TotalEnergies is drilling the fourth well out of the 12 at Kasemene well pad 1.

“We have 106 wells completed and we hit the 100th well on January 27, 2025but we are optimistic that by August 2025 we expect to hit 140 wells,” Wangoic said, adding that the crude oil from the 106 wells is still intact and untouched.

She said they are also constructing underground pipelines that will be used to transport the crude oil from the wells to the Central Processing Facility.  

Wangoic said they are also constructing a Central Processing Facility on 870 acres of government land and that other components are being constructed at the site.

She explained that they compensated 99% of affected persons and that 225 households had been resettled by construction of permanent houses and other people were compensated in cash.

She further revealed that the central government intends to construct an LPG plant to facilitate the manufacturing of liquid gas in the future and to also establish a solar energy plant on 15 acres of land.

Dave Bland, the operations safety supervisor at TotalEnergies, said pipeline construction is underway adding that when they drill and reach an oil well, they cover it with a concrete cap and move to another area and continue with drilling another well.

Appreciation

Andrew Ntange, the spokesperson and chief of protocol in the office of the prime minister of Busoga Kingdom, explained that the tour was designed to update the cultural leaders on the status of the oil and gas projects, with the information cascading down to the Basoga people.

He appreciated Kyabazinga for working with the central Government to organise the benchmarking visit to the Kingfisher and Tilenga Oilfields. Ntange said rare earth mineral deposits and gold were discovered in Busoga and that the central government is also going to construct a nuclear plant in Buyende district. He, therefore, requested the Government to replicate development projects done in the Albertian region due to oil and gas in Busoga region.

“The oil and gas sector in Uganda is promising and could be a game-changer for the country’s socio-economic transformation,” Ntange said.

He added that they have learnt many things after the tour, including co-operation by the people of Bunyoro who gave away their land for the projects.

“We can now affirm to the people, we can authoritatively be asked about the oil and gas project and we respond based on what we have seen here in the Albertine region,” Ntange said.

Ntange said the 20-man Busoga delegation, included kingdom permanent secretary Godfrey Ssanjabi Samanya, cabinet ministers: Nasabu Nantale (education), Michael Kifubangabo (information), David Agha Isabirye (state for information), James Mukembo (youth), Sam Nkenga (agriculture), Edward Munaaba (general duties), Amin Bbosa Nkono (sports) and Ivan Tibenkana (health).

Others were Prince Joshua Kitimbo, Kaloli Mwiru, Samuel Mwesigwa, CPA David Kakungulu, Josephine Bamuwe, Innocent Waiguta, Conellius Waidhuba and Mohammed Masulubu.

They were able to assess various aspects of the projects, including the readiness of oil production pads, the storage of drilled crude oil, and the contribution of oil and gas to Uganda’s economic development.