The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development of Uganda plans to select an investor for a refinery project by February 2017. Several oil companies, including Sinopec (China) have expressed interest in the construction of the first refinery of the country. The project developer will take a 60% stake in the refinery and the government will take the remaining 40%.
Uganda discovered oil deposits in 2006 and crude oil resources are estimated at 6.5 Gbl, of which 1.4-1.7 Gbl would be recoverable. A dispute over taxes and the viability of the refinery project - downsized from 120,000 bbl/d to 60,000 bbl/d after a dispute between the government and Tullow Oil - have delayed to start of oil production to 2020.
Troubles in the investors and contractors selection process for the refinery have also contributed to delay the start of oil production. In February 2015, the Energy Ministry of Uganda selected RT Global Resources (Russia) to build and operate the refinery in the country but negotiations were terminated in July 2016. Uganda then turned to a consortium led by SK Engineering (South Korea) to develop the project, but negotiations have also collapsed.