Uganda is in discussions about a proposed oil refinery with a UAE investment business.

Uganda’s energy minister announced on Tuesday that the country is in talks to build a $4 billion refinery for some of its crude oil, with an investment business headed by a member of the royal family of Dubai.
Uganda ended talks with a group that includes a division of the American company Baker Hughes (BKR.O) in July of last year. The reason for the termination was Uganda’s inability to raise funds on time.
Uganda’s budding hydrocarbons industry depends on the 60,000 barrels per day refinery.
At a press conference, Minister of Energy and Mineral Development Ruth Nankabirwa stated, “Memorandums of understanding was signed on the 22 of December 2023 after expressions of interest from several potential investors were received and evaluated.”
The government and Alpha MBM Investments, located in the United Arab Emirates, began negotiating the important commercial issues on January 16 and are anticipated to finish in three months, she said.
According to its website, Sheikh Mohammed bin Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum, a member of the Dubai royal family, is the company’s leader.
Uganda anticipates beginning to extract oil for commercial use in 2025 from areas in the west of the country, close to the Democratic Republic of the Congo border, in the Albertine Rift Basin.
The state-run Uganda National Oil Company, China’s CNOOC (0883.HK), opens new tab, and France’s TotalEnergies (TTEF.PA), opens new tab, jointly manage the fields on behalf of the Ugandan government.
The administration of President Yoweri Museveni hopes to increase employment and gain from technology transfer by processing part of its petroleum domestically.
Additionally, according to Nankabirwa, Uganda on Tuesday granted CNOOC a licence to produce Liquefied Petroleum Gas at a plant that would be built in the Kingfisher development area, where CNOOC is now operating.
One of the two commercial oil development fields in Uganda is Kingfisher. TotalEnergies is the operator of the second, Tilenga.
The minister did not specify the annual production of gas that CNOOC would produce. It is predicted that Uganda possesses 500 billion cubic feet of gas reserves.