Uganda’s Second Licensing Round was launched on 8th May 2019 at the 9th East African Petroleum Conference and Exhibition in Mombasa, 2019. Five prolific blocks all located in the Albertine Graben are now available to potential investors. The five blocks are;
(i)LR2_2019_Block01 (Avivi) covering 1026km2,
(ii) LR2_2019_Block02 (Omuka) covering 750 km22
(iii) LR2_2019_Block03 (Kasuruban) 1285km
(iv) LR2_2019_Block04 (Turaco) covering 637km2
(v) LR2_2019_Block05 (Ngaji) covering 1230km2
The licensing process has three main stages namely; Request for Qualification (Prequalification), Request for Proposals (Bidding) and Negotiation. Local and International Companies have an opportunity to participate in the Prequalification stage either single handedly or through joint ventures provided they submit in their applications before 22nd November 2019. The pre-qualified applicants will then be issued with the bidding documents and also required to identify area (s) of interest.
According to the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development; Mr. Robert Kasande, “The Second licensing round comes at a time when the country is progressing into field development and production of the already confirmed oil reserves. The PS says that the produced oil will be commercialized through the Refinery and East African Crude Oil Pipeline which are both under development. Therefore, development and production of any confirmed reserves from the new blocks will find infrastructures and evacuation routes to the markets already in place, The PS concluded.
The Manager, Second Licensing Round and the Ag. Commissioner for the Upstream Petroleum Department, Mr Frank Mugisha, says promotional road shows have been planned to be held in major cities of London on 14th October, Houston on 17th October and Dubai on 22nd October 2019. The Manager added that the road shows will be organized by M/s Schlumberger Oil Field Services and will provide a platform for Government officials to deliver presentations and exhibition on the prospectivity of the blocks, legal and regulatory framework, data availability, commercial and fiscal aspects, requirements for the pre-qualification, among others.
The five blocks are available to potential applicants after going through the prequalification stage successfully. Entry into the prequalification stage is subject to prior payment of a non-refundable application fees of $20,000. Upon the payment, the RfQ document can then be picked at:Petroleum Exploration, Development and Production Department in Entebbe or delivered through an email by the Manager, Second Licensing Round.