Reuters Uganda’s Murchison Falls National Park is bisected by the majestic Nile river and boasts some of Africa’s wildlife treasures – elephants, lions and a rare giraffe sub-species. Beneath it lies another natural prize: oil. Now French energy giant Total has begun surveys to prepare for seismic tests in the national park, one of
The environmental impact of the solid wastes expected from Uganda’s oil refinery
Every industry usually produces waste which it is expected to dispose off in a manner that is environment friendly. The refinery will be no exception. It is projected that during the construction of the refinery, construction solid wastes and domestic sewage will contaminate the soil if not properly treated. Refineries generate solid wastes and
Oil lures government into building a new city in Bunyoro
The government is planning to construct two new cities in the Albertine region and Buvuma Island, the minister in charge of urban development has said. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Monitor last week, Ms Rosemary Najjemba revealed that the government would use part of the $150m (about Shs389.6b) World Bank loan to
Uganda urged to join the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
The Managing Editor of Oil in Uganda, a website on oil related developments in Uganda, Chris Byaruhanga has challenged the Uganda government to open up and embrace the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a global standard, where member governments declare income they earn from their extractive industries and
Uganda’s oil sector licensing policy shifts from open door to competitive bidding
While the Uganda oil and gas industry awaits a new licensing regime, the good news trickling in is that the next phase of licensing will shift from the open door policy to competitive bidding. This follows a freeze that was imposed on the sector a few years ago to enable the country enact the
Why the shs39b budgetary allocation for the refinery construction activities is too small
One of the biggest winners in the budget that the Uganda Minister of Finance, Planing and Economic Development Maria Kiwanuka read a couple of days ago was the energy sector which received a huge boost of 281 billion pushing its total budgetary allocation to 1.4 trillion shillings. While the allocations should enthuse the different
Heritage mulls over possible appeal after losing case to Tullow
Whilst Tullow Oil Uganda has every reason to celebrate after winning a $313m case against Heritage Oil, Heritage won’t back down just as yet; it is now considering the option of appealing the ruling. In his judgment, Mr. Justice Burton found in favour of Tullow’s indemnity claim for US$313 million in its entirety and
How the refinery will “waste” Uganda’s water
In the very first article we ran about the environmental cost of building an oil refinery we focussed on the air emmisions and how they will affect the environment. Today we focus on the effect of emmissions to water that will result from the construction of the refinery. The principal sources of effluent discharge
The environmental cost of building an oil refinery in Uganda
Building an oil refinery will definitely come with an environmental cost to the nation. And as we seek to assess the environmental impact of building an oil refinery there are a number of factors that are worthy taking note of. For this particular analysis we zero on one particular aspect of the environment: the
Oil industry creating business opportunities in Uganda
When Uganda started taking definite steps towards the exploration of its commercial reserves of oil, the reason why every citizen warmed up to the news was because of the opportunities that they expected to come with such a breakthrough. Yes, cases of corruption have been reported and that alone could be a cause for