By Nicholas Bariyo
KAMPALA Uganda--The Ugandan government is set to borrow $140
million from the World Bank to improve infrastructure facilities in
its remote oil-rich Lake Albertine-rift basin, the government
announced Thursday.
Information minister, Rose Namayanja said that cabinet had
cleared the finance ministry to borrow the funds to upgrade several
roads and provide social services in the region as the East African
nation steps up efforts to develop its fledging oil sector.
The announcement comes just a few days after Chinese Oil
company, Cnooc Ltd. (CEO) said that crude output from its $2
billion Kingfisher oil field may start in late 2018, nearly a year
later than expected due to infrastructure bottlenecks in the remote
oil region.
"The funds will be invested in the rolling-out of development
infrastructure and social services," Ms. Namayanja said. "The
influx of people seeking profits, jobs and market opportunities
related to the oil industry is projected to increase further."
Oil exploration has discovered at least 3.5 billion barrels of
crude on the Ugandan side of the Lake Albertine Rift basin but the
region lacks functional infrastructure, such as well developed
roads, railways and air strips.
Jin Weigen, Cnooc's vice president in charge of finance said
last week the company is putting in place a number of
pre-development infrastructure projects around Kingfisher,
including access roads and air strip.
Cnooc with its joint venture partners, U.K.'s Tullow Oil PLC
(TLW.LN) and France's Total SA (TOT) are planning to build a
1,200-kilometer crude export pipeline to the East African coast,
from the land-locked region. Uganda's crude output is expected to
peak at around 230,000 barrels-a-day by around 2020.
Write to Nicholas Bariyo at nicholas.bariyo@wsj.com
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