Ugandan oil sector.
Tullow Oil’s 900-million-dolar sale of most of its stake in Uganda’s oil fields to French oil major Total in January should speed up the start of production and exports. However, the latest developments suggest the country’s oil industry will confront detours ahead. An export pipeline must still be financed and built; Ugandan officials are concerned Total will have too dominant a position in the project; and the government is still determined to build a refinery, though it is searching for a developer.
A dynamic oil industry would benefit President Yoweri Museveni, who appears to aim to retain office.
The oil industry will have regional dynamics, bringing Uganda and Tanzania together without Kenya, the traditional East African power.
Expectations of the future benefits within the population and government could be disappointed.
