President Yoweri Museveni has revealed the name of Uganda’s crude oil blend “Pearl Sweet,” marking a milestone as the East African country gears up for commercial production by the end of the year.
The name chosen for Uganda’s crude oil blend is a nod to Winston Churchill’s description of Uganda in the last century as “the pearl of Africa,” and the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Energy Eng. Pauline Irene Batebe s said the “sweet” in the nomenclature reflects the crude blend’s low sulfur content.
“The name combines national identity with a commercial description,” the Ministry of Energy said in a statement. “Naming supports future crude marketing activities and engagement with potential buyers.”
Uganda is estimated to have recoverable oil reserves of roughly 1.6 billion barrels. The investors are French oil company TotalEnergies, which owns the largest stake, and China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or CNOOC. The Ugandan people, through the Uganda National Oil Company, own 15% of the projects.
“This marks an important milestone in our journey to develop Uganda’s oil and gas resources for value addition and economic transformation,” President Yoweri Museveni said. “Through refining, petrochemical industries and the use of associated gas for electricity generation, we shall maximize the value of our resources here at home and reduce dependence on imported petroleum products.”
Museveni said the revenues generated from the oil resource should be invested to build a productive and sustainable economy arguing that Uganda should avoid the mistakes that were made by some African oil-producing countries.
He advised Uganda’s oil money should be used to build long-term projects like roads , railway and electricity dams to ensure a sustainable economy long after the country’s oil reserves are depleted.
The President explained that the decision to establish an oil refinery in Uganda was intended to reduce the costs associated with exporting crude oil and importing refined petroleum products.
He said local refining would also help reduce Uganda’s petroleum import bill, which he estimated at about US$2 billion annually.
Museveni further advised tha the gas produced during oil should be used to generate electricity instead of flaring it.
Gas from the Kingfisher development is expected to generate about 80 megawatts of electricity, while other petroleum products will support cooking and other domestic uses.
Production is expected to plateau at about 230,000 barrels per day, with blended crude exports emerging from separate projects by CNOOC and TotalEnergies.
