The global list of crude oil exporters will expand with Uganda early next year as the African country is moving closer to first oil from a project whose crude will flow through a new pipeline to Tanzania’s coast.
Landlocked Uganda, where France’s supermajor TotalEnergies and China’s CNOOC have been developing the Tilenga and Kingfisher oil fields, will become a crude oil exporter in early 2027, the country’s officials say.
Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) has just appointed global energy trader Vitol to market Uganda’s Pearl Sweet crude oil ahead of exports expected in early 2027.
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Uganda’s Minister for Energy and Mineral Development, Monica Musenero Masanza, presented Uganda’s Pearl Sweet crude oil to an international audience of refiners, traders, investors, and petroleum industry leaders at the APPEC 2026 conference on Tuesday, UNOC said.
Pearl Sweet, produced from the Tilenga and Kingfisher oil fields has a low sulfur content of 0.12%, and will be exported through the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which is now more than 90% complete, the Ugandan national oil company said.
The $5 billion East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which will transport crude from Uganda’s Albertine Graben to Tanzania’s port of Tanga, is nearly complete, after years of delays and controversies surrounding the project. The development of EACOP is being led by TotalEnergies.
The 1,443-kilometer pipeline will enable Uganda to export its oil for the first time. Production from the Albertine Rift Basin, where TotalEnergies and China’s CNOOC are developing the Tilenga and Kingfisher oilfields, is expected to peak at around 200,000 barrels per day (bpd).
The oil pipeline is expected to bring crude from the Lake Albert project in Uganda to the international oil market. It is designed to transport 216,000 barrels of crude oil per day, with a ramp-up of up to 246,000 bpd, Uganda says.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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