Oil & Gas

Uganda is set to become Africa’s leading contributor to new oil and gas storage capacity by 2030, surpassing Nigeria and Ghana, according to a September 16 report by data provider GlobalData. The country’s progress is closely tied to large-scale infrastructure projects such as the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and the Hoima refinery, which will process 60,000 barrels per day once operational. These projects are critical to supporting the launch of the Tilenga and Kingfisher oil fields, expected to begin production in 2026.

The $5 billion EACOP project is central to Uganda’s oil strategy. It features a marine terminal in Tanga, Tanzania, equipped with four heated tanks of 500,000 barrels each to keep crude at over 63°C, preventing solidification. Together, these tanks provide storage equivalent to nine days of production at peak output, estimated at 230,000 barrels per day—190,000 from Tilenga and 40,000 from Kingfisher.

Currently, Uganda’s oil storage infrastructure is limited. The Jinja terminal can only hold 30 million liters, or about 188,000 barrels—less than one day of peak production. To bridge this gap, a new Kampala terminal is planned with a capacity of 320 million liters, equal to 2 million barrels. These facilities will be complemented by Tilenga and Kingfisher’s central processing units, which act as buffers before crude reaches refineries or export pipelines.

Because Uganda’s crude is waxy and must be kept at high temperatures between 50–63°C, adequate storage is vital for regulating flows and enabling both exports and refining operations. Authorities project up to $2.5 billion in annual revenues once full-scale production begins, positioning Uganda as a strong competitor against regional players Kenya and Tanzania, which already operate oil hubs in Mombasa and Dar es Salaam.