By Nicholas Bariyo
KAMPALA, Uganda--China's Cnooc Ltd. (CEO) plans to hire a
contractor to formulate the final development plan for the $2
billion Kingfisher oil field within two months, the company said
Monday, bringing the company nearer to the commercialization of its
Ugandan assets.
The contractor will formulate a front-end engineering design,
detailing all the technical requirements of the project, including
infield flow pipelines, processing facilities and access roads, the
company's Ugandan unit, Cnooc Uganda Ltd., said in a statement.
The design will enable the company to make a final investment
decision on the project, nearly two years after the Ugandan
government issued a production license for the oil field.
The Kingfisher oil project covers a total area of 32 square
kilometers near the edge of Lake Albert's southern tip, along
Uganda's western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. The
oil field contains an estimated 635 million barrels of crude and is
expected produce up to 40,000 barrels a day when it comes on stream
by late 2018.
Cnooc co-owns the field with the U.K.'s Tullow Oil PLC (TLW.LN)
and France's Total SA (TOT).
Uganda's oil fields are estimated to contain 6.5 billion barrels
of crude, but their development has been delayed by disagreements
between the government and oil companies over the fields'
development, refining options, and tax policies.
Write to Nicholas Bariyo at nicholas.bariyo@wsj.com
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