Press of 7 September 2018, reported that the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) and China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly explore for oil and gas in the Albertine Graben. The block outline has not been disclosed but is located on the southern part of the Lake Albert.   CNOOC already has interests in Uganda. It operates the PL01/2012 (Kingfisher) licence and has interest in production licenses (former Exploration Areas 1, 1A, 2 and 3A) : Kasamene-Wahrindi (PL01/2016), Kigogole-Ngara (PL02/2016), Nsoga (PL03/2016), Ngege (PL04/2016), Mputa-Nzizi-Waraga (PL06/2016), Ngiri (PL06/2016), Jobi-Rii (PL07/2016), Gunya (PL08/2016). Following Tullow farm-out deal to Total and CNOOC pre-emption rights, interests in the licences should be shared as follow: Total 44.12%, CNOOC 44.12% and Tullow with 11.76%. However, the companies have not yet received the governmental approval the complete the deal.   The Lake Albert Development Project aims to develop 1.4 Bbbl of oil equivalent recoverable resources from the Albertine Graben for a cost of USD 5.2 billion with first production starting in 2021 at plateau rates of 230k b/d. The projectâs Final Investment Decision (FID) is expected in the second half of 2018, with first oil expected 36-months after the FID. The oil production will be exported through the so-called East African Crude Oil Pipeline which is expected to be completed by 2021. Uganda is also planning to construct a refinery at Hoima with a capacity of refining 30,000 b/d to cater for demand of petroleum products in East Africa.
Press of 7 September 2018, reported that the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) and China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly explore for oil and gas in the Albertine Graben. The block outline has not been disclosed but is located on the southern part of the Lake Albert. )