Uganda’s cabinet has approved licences for Uganda National Oil Co. (UNOC) and Australia’s DGR Global, with an initial period of two years.
UNOC will hold the Kasuruban licence, while DGR Energy Turaco Uganda the Turaco licence.
Notes from the cabinet meeting said UNOC would “find suitable joint venture partner(s) within the first exploration period”. The statement was signed by Minister of State for ICT Kabbyanga Godfrey.
The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MEMD) launched a second licence round in May 2019, covering five blocks. The ministry had hoped to conclude the round in 2020-21.
All five are in the Albertine Graben, where TotalEnergies and CNOOC are working on the Kingfisher and Tilenga developments.
Kasuruban covers 1,285 square km and it was the largest area on offer, close to Tilenga. Turaco covers 637 square km.
DGR Energy, a subsidiary of DGR Global, already holds the Kanywataba block, to the south of Lake Albert. It has an 83.18% stake in the block, while the remaining 16.12% is held by Armour Energy.
Armour signed the production-sharing agreement (PSA) on the Kanywataba area in 2017. This is adjacent to Turaco.
Heritage Oil drilled three wells on Turaco in 2002-04 and found hydrocarbons. However, the company also noted that CO2 levels at Turaco-3 were high, making commercial viability a challenge.
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