Uganda’s Petroleum Authority (PAU) has announced that oil and gas companies will invest at least $2.81bn domestically in 2025, the Monitor reported on March 31.

PAU executive director Ernest Rubondo said that by the end of 2024, total investments in the sector had reached $9.96bn, with $1.9bn injected in 2023 and $2.44bn last year.

The investment is expected to create over 15,169 jobs, with 89% going to Ugandans. Uganda’s oil and gas sector has awarded contracts worth $5.3bn, including $2.1bn to Ugandan companies. Out of 3,087 firms registered on the national supplier database, 630 have secured contracts, 465 of which are Ugandan.

Uganda’s oil reserves, estimated at 6.5bn barrels, with 1.4bn recoverable, position the country as a key player in East Africa’s energy landscape. The sector’s growth is anchored on major projects, including the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), operated by TotalEnergies (France) and China’s CNOOC.

EACOP Ltd. announced on March 26 it had secured the first tranche of external financing for the pipeline, with funding from a syndicate of financial institutions, including Afreximbank, the Standard Bank of South Africa, Stanbic Bank Uganda, KCB Bank Uganda, and the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD).

Rubondo said as quoted by Monitor, “When it comes to national content, the sector will create value in the Ugandan economy, achieve in-country value creation and retention, ensures competitiveness, and develop national human capital in oil and gas and related disciplines, as well as enhance competitiveness enterprises supplying oil and gas alongside other sectors.”

As bne IntelliNews reported, Uganda recently entered into an agreement with UAE-based Alpha MBM Investments to acquire a 60% stake in the Kabale refinery, located in the country's Hoima region. The Kabale refinery is expected to have a processing capacity of 60,000 barrels per day (bpd), converting Uganda’s crude into gasoline, diesel, kerosene, jet fuel, and heavy fuel oils.