Uganda’s own oil refinery project in Hoima remains on track, President Yoweri Museveni says, even as Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote pushes plans for a much larger regional refinery that could reshape East Africa’s fuel market.
Museveni and Dangote met in Kampala in May to discuss the proposed regional facility, with the Ugandan leader voicing support for the idea and saying Uganda is open to taking a stake in it, even as it continues developing its own 60,000-barrel-a-day plant at Hoima with Dubai-based Alpha MBM Investments. That national project also includes a large storage terminal in Mpigi District and a products pipeline linking the refinery to Kampala.
The regional refinery Dangote is proposing would cost an estimated $15-17 billion and process up to 650,000 barrels a day, potentially serving several East African countries. Dangote has said jobs would not be a problem, pointing to the multinational workforce at his Nigerian refinery, and has also held talks with the leaders of Tanzania and Kenya as he weighs locations including Tanga and Mombasa for the project.
The discussions come as Uganda’s own oil sector approaches a major milestone, with the East African Crude Oil Pipeline nearing completion and first exports expected later this year — infrastructure officials say will work alongside, rather than against, any future regional refinery.
Source: (panafricanvisions.com)