UGANDA IS TO SEND ITS OIL TECHNICIANS FOR EXPLORATION AND DRILLING TRAINING IN CUBA, FOLLOWING PRESIDENT MUSEVENI VISIT TO HAVANA.
Business Report By Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.
Uganda is to send oil technicians to Cuba, a country which has been successful in oil and gas production, for training, the NEWVISION has reported this morning..
The government-owned daily says in its current edition that the plan to cooperate in the oil industry follows Uganda’s major oil and gas discoveries in the Albertine Graben region, stretching about 23,000 square kilometers from the West Nile to the South-Western tip district of Kanungu..
While visiting the Energas SA Plant at Veladero Matanza Province in Cuba yesterday {Thursday}, President Museveni said Uganda will use the gas from the oil wells for generating electricity.
A total of 34 oil wells have so far been drilled in the Albertine region,32 of which have oil deposits.
The resources, according to the energy minister and oil companies, can sustain long term oil production that could propel the country to the top 50 oil producers in the world.
Sources in the Ugandan ministry of Energy disclosed that the exploration has attracted about {Ushs 961.7 billion} in direct foreign investments. The figure is expected to go up to USD 900 million{Ushs1.7 trillion} by January. Five exploration areas have been licensed to prospecting foreign companies.
The four oil prospecting companies include Tullow Oil, Heritage Oil and Gas, Dominion Petroleum and Neptune Resources..
According to the press release from State House Entebbe, President Museveni, who has been in Cuba for a four day visit, reported to have congratulated Cuban people for locally drilling oil and gas successfully, utilizing it to benefit their country..
President Museveni went to Cuba soon after attending the just concluded Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting {CHOGM} in Trinidad and Tobago. He is being accompanied by the First Lady and cabinet ministers as well as permanent secretaries.
He was further quoted by the NEWVISION as saying, “I was in Cuba 22 years ago. The country had not discovered oil by then, but I am happy to find that for the last ten years, Cuba has become one of the oil and gas producing nations”.
The was shown around by Vadeva Garcia, Cuba’s Oil and Gas Minister, who briefed the Ugandan leader and his entourage about the progress of Cuba oil exploration and productions associated gases using new engineering concepts and technology.
She told the visiting Uganda delegation that oil and gas production in Cuba was a strategic national project, which was closely monitored from exploration, extraction and utilization.
Ends
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