Uganda government invites foreign companies for oil pipeline

Kampala

Uganda is welcoming bids from international firms for the construction of an oil pipeline to the Lake Albertine rift basin, State Minister for Energy Minister Simon D'Ujanga has said.

The minister said tenders would be issued next month to pre-qualified companies interested in the construction of the 230-kilometre pipeline, connecting the shores of Lake Albert, to Kampala.

The pipeline is expected to transport refined fuel products from a planned refinery in Hoima. "We are also in talks with our neighbours, Congo and Kenya. We intend to integrate the entire project to eventually run up to the East African coast," he said.

The Hoima-Kampala pipeline is expected to be linked with Kenya's Mombasa- Eldoret pipeline, and later extended to Rwanda, Burundi and mineral-rich eastern Congo.

In November, Uganda and Congo signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at co-ordinating oil exploration and development in the Lake Albertine rift, which is located along their common border.
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