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Tullow Oil’s farmdown to Total and CNOOC of around 20% of its Ugandan licences terminated on 29 August, following the expiry of the sale and purchase agreements (SPAs). Tullow said it had been unable to secure a further extension. With a final investment decision (FID) on the development now pushed further back, Total has suspended development of the export pipeline to Tanzania’s Tanga port.

A cabinet meeting on 26 August agreed that the government would not pursue development of a proposed 360MW hydropower dam at Murchison Falls, a popular tourist destination within a national park.“Cabinet took a decision at its latest sitting that there will be no construction of the hydropower dam in Murchison Falls National Park,” tourism minister Ephraim Kamuntu told Agence France-Presse. “Definitely we still need more electricity to power our expanding economy, but this project can go elsewhere, not in the park.”

The Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) board of directors on 13 August named Proscovia Nabbanja as acting chief executive to replace Josephine Wapakabulo, who has resigned from the post. Nabbanja, a geologist by training, has been UNOC chief operating officer upstream for the last three years. Before that she was a principal geologist in the Petroleum Exploration & Production Department within the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development. Wapakabulo said in her resignation letter she wanted to focus on her family and new opportunities.

The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) announced on 12 August the finalisation of a $54m debt finance package for a 16.5MW run-of-river plant at Kikagati on the Kagera River, which forms the border between Uganda and Tanzania. EAIF said financial closure of the project had seen the first tranche of debt funding released to the developer and future owner-operator, the Kikagati Power Company, which is wholly owned by the Africa Energy Renewable Fund. The EAIF and Dutch development bank FMO have each provided loans of $27m for the $87m project.

Denmark’s Cowi A/S has been appointed to carry out a full feasibility study for the 20MW Earth Energy biomass project in Gulu, northern Uganda. The $650,000 contract has a one-year duration. Earth Energy Company Ltd received a $993,000 grant from the African Development Bank-managed Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa in 2016 for the study. Germany’s KfW and the US’ Power Africa are also backing the project, which is expected to buy agricultural waste from around 15,000 farmers in the north-west of the country.

Following an outcry over an application from a South African company for a permit to conduct feasibility studies for a hydro plant at Murchison Falls, state minister for privatisation and investment Evelyn Anite has said the site will be protected.“We don’t agree with any investor destroying our natural resources. And I don’t expect any investor to be licensed to destroy a national treasure like Murchison Falls or even operate in a wetland,” the New Vision newspaper quoted her as saying on 25 June.

The Swedish and Ugandan governments signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 19 June to enhance cooperation and promote trade in the energy sector between the two countries. The MoU will give Ugandan energy utilities access to capacity building and technical support from their Swedish counterparts and promote provision of Swedish solutions to Ugandan utilities backed by Swedish financing via Swedish export credit agencies EKN and SEK.

Nigeria’s Oranto Petroleum has completed acquisition of 326km of 2D seismic data over the Ngassa Block in the Albertine Graben. The Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) said the survey was carried out by the UK’s IMC Geophysical Services between 19 April and 18 May as part of the work programme for the first two-year exploration phase on the licence that runs from October 2017 to October 2019. The next two-year phase includes an obligation to drill at least one well.

Minister of energy and mineral development Irene Muloni on 8 May launched Uganda’s second licensing round offering five blocks of relinquished acreage in the Albertine Graben. Two of the blocks, Turaco and Ngaji, were offered in the first round in 2015.Speaking at the East African Petroleum Conference in Mombasa, Muloni said the bidding process would start with a request for qualification process, inviting interested companies to submit applications within the next six months.

Tullow Oil says it is now expecting a final investment decision (FID) on the Lake Albert development in Uganda in H2 this year. In a 25 April trading update, the company said the development had made “good technical and operational progress” in Q1. Tullow cited a target of mid-year when it announced its 2018 results in February, while energy minister Irene Muloni mentioned early 2019 in comments at Africa Oil Week last November.

President Yoweri Museveni formally commissioned the 183MW Isimba hydropower plant on 21 March. Isimba, which has been operating since the end of December, was built by China International Water and Electric Corporation (CWE) through a $567.7m contract 85% funded by the Export-Import Bank of China. Construction was delayed when cracks became visible in the dam in 2016, causing leaks and flooding of the powerhouse and destroying the coffer dam.

The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), part of the Private Infrastructure Development Group, has signed a $27m loan agreement for the 16.5MW Kikagati run-of-river hydropower project. The plant, which is under construction, is located on the Kagera River on the border between Uganda and Tanzania. The anticipated 113GWh/yr will be sold to the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company, which will sell half on to Tanzania.The Netherlands’ FMO was lead arranger for the senior debt, signing its $27m portion in February.

Tullow Oil says it has “agreed the principles” of a capital gains tax payment to the Ugandan government on the farm-down of its assets. The company said in its 2018 results statement on 13 February that tax payments would be phased and partly linked to project progress. A final investment decision (FID) on the upstream development is held up by a government demand for a $167m tax payment on the $900m farm-down deal.

Ministers from Uganda and Tanzania have met for talks aimed at advancing the East African crude oil pipeline project, which has made little progress since its formal launch in August 2017.The 25 January meeting agreed that a host government agreement for the project should be signed by the end of June detailing the rights and obligations of the parties – the two governments and the upstream partners Total, CNOOC and Tullow Oil.

The Uganda Electricity Generation Company Limited (UEGCL), has said the 183MW Isimba dam is ready for commissioning at the end of January. UEGCL corporate affairs manager Simon Kasyate told the Daily Monitor the dam’s four Kaplan turbine generator units were running by 10 January when the UEGCL board concluded a routine appraisal of the project.Isimba is being built by China International Water and Electric Corporation (CWE) through a $567.7m contract 85% funded by the Export-Import Bank of China.