- A spokesman for Uganda’s energy and mineral development ministry, Solomon Muyita, spoke to The Associated Press about the drilling operation.
- Uganda’s National Environmental Management Authority has sought to ease environmental concerns.
A spokesman for Uganda’s energy and mineral development ministry, Solomon Muyita, spoke to The Associated Press about the drilling operation. He said the start of drilling at the Kingfisher oil field in the Kikuube district of western Uganda was a big step toward industrial oil production. Drilling has begun at a Chinese-operated oil field in Uganda. Officials in the East African nation say they expect oil production to begin by 2025.
The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) operates the field. Muyita also said construction would begin this year on the 1,443-kilometer East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline. The pipeline will run between Uganda and the Indian Ocean port of Tanga in Tanzania. Climate activists have raised concerns about the effects of the pipeline on local communities and the environment.
The EU parliament also warned that the pipeline project placed 100,000 people “at imminent risk” of displacement without providing effective guarantees of payment, known as compensation. Uganda’s National Environmental Management Authority has sought to ease environmental concerns. And Muyita told the AP that thousands of families displaced by the project have already been compensated. Ugandan officials consider the pipeline important to economic development. They argue that oil wealth can lift millions of people out of poverty.