• Uganda will launch its third oil exploration licensing round during the 2026/2027 fiscal year starting in July.

• Authorities target Uganda’s first commercial oil production by the end of the second half of 2026.

• The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) reached 82% completion, while total sector investment has hit $12.3 billion.

Uganda will launch a new oil exploration licensing round during the 2026/2027 fiscal year, which begins in July, as the country moves closer to its first commercial crude production.

Ruth Nankabirwa, Uganda’s energy minister, announced the plan during an oil sector conference held in Kampala on Tuesday, April 28.

The upcoming process will mark the country’s third licensing round after the previous cycle launched in 2019 and concluded in 2023, covering five blocks.

Nankabirwa said the government will offer acreage in the Albertine Graben, an established hydrocarbon region, as well as in frontier basins that remain largely unexplored, including Moroto-Kadam and Kyoga in northern and northeastern Uganda.

The announcement comes as Ugandan authorities target the country’s first commercial oil production by the end of the second half of 2026.

France’s TotalEnergies operates the Tilenga field, while China’s CNOOC operates the Kingfisher field. Both companies are developing the projects in partnership with Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC).

The operators will transport production through the 1,443-kilometer heated East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which will connect Uganda to the Tanzanian port of Tanga.

Construction progress on the pipeline reached 82%, according to data published by the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) in early April. The regulator said operators have invested nearly $12.3 billion in the projects to date.

According to Reuters, Uganda’s identified reserves currently stand at 6.5 billion barrels, all located in the Albertine Graben near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The EACOP consortium expects production to reach 240,000 barrels per day once the fields achieve full capacity. Meanwhile, the PAU forecasts economic growth of 10.4% during the first year of oil production.

By launching a new exploration round before exporting its first barrel, Kampala aims to strengthen and expand its long-term reserve base beyond the fields already under development.

Uganda’s expected crude production also forms part of a broader regional energy strategy. On April 23, Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote announced during the “Africa We Build Summit” in Nairobi that he plans to build a 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Tanga, Tanzania, at the EACOP terminal.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni confirmed in Nairobi that surplus Ugandan crude would supply the regional refinery project.

At the same time, Uganda continues to advance its domestic refinery project in Hoima. The planned facility will have a capacity of 60,000 barrels per day and an estimated cost of $4 billion, according to The East African.

This article was initially published in French by Abdel-Latif Boureima

Adapted in English by Ange J.?A de Berry Quenum