Gov’t revises Oil volumes to six billion barrels

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The amount of crude oil so far discovered is six billion barrels, down from 6.5 billion barrels, the Uganda government has announced.

Of the six billion barrels, the amount recoverable has also been put at 1.4 billion barrels, down from the initial range of between 1.7 and 1.9 billion barrels.

Addressing the media on Thursday in Kampala, Minister of Energy and Mineral Development Irene Muloni says after further analysis has shown that the oil in place and that is recoverable is at six billion barrels and 1.4 billion barrels respectively.

Muloni says now that there is agreement on the six-billion-barrels of oil, there is need to start the development of the necessary infrastructure, speculating that more oil is yet to be discovered.

Ever since oil was discovered, the government and oil companies have consistently stated that the oil in place is 6.5 billion barrels. The recoverable amount has shifted between 1.2 and 2.5 billion barrels.

Challenged why the government is suspiciously revising down the oil volumes, Muloni says the new figure is a result of further analysis.

While Uganda deploys oil workers during exploration, the actual analysis of the data and determination of the volumes and other parameters is by the oil companies, who also have “monopoly” over the actual details.

Since the oil companies have the upper hand in the analysis, the revision of the oil volumes downwards leaves a lot to be desired.

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