As part of its ongoing attempts to become a significant oil producer on the continent, Uganda began drilling its first oil well in the Kingfisher oil field on Tuesday, January 24, 2023, under the leadership of His Excellency Yoweri Museveni, the President of Uganda. The first of the 1.4 billion barrels of oil that could be extracted from wells across the mid-western region is anticipated to be piped by 2025.

In a tweet, the Petroleum Authority of Uganda, said: “Today we mark another milestone and move a step closer to first oil with the launch of the drilling of development and production wells for the Kingfisher oil fields.”

While France’s TotalEnergies runs the second Tilenga oil field, China’s CNOOC runs the Kingfisher oil field. Nearly 400 wells will be drilled to develop and produce the oil resource. There will be 31 of these in the Kingfisher oil field, with the deepest well measuring 7.4 kilometres.

Speaking during the commissioning, the Executive Director of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda, Ernest Rubondo said, “the Authority is putting in place a Real Time Monitoring Centre (RTMC) that will fully provide information on the oil and gas activities in real time.”

Praising the efforts of the President, the ED said: “The drilling rig, which you have just switched on Your Excellency, will be used to drill all the planned 31 production wells of this oil field”