April 10, 2018, 11:31 AM EDT
–GE-led group will build 60,000-barrel-a-day facility in Hoima
–Plant to process Ugandan crude once oil output starts in 2020
Uganda awarded the contract to build its first refinery to General Electric Co. and partners, sealing a deal for the 60,000-barrel-a-day plant after previous agreements collapsed.
The Albertine Graben Refinery Consortium, led by Boston-based GE, will develop the refinery in Hoima district, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said on his Twitter account after the accord was signed Tuesday. It’s a breakthrough for the long-planned project, which will allow the country to process its own oil once crude production starts at the end of the decade.
The deal “ensures development, design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the facility,” Museveni said, without specifying the stakes to be held by the consortium and the government. “Western companies are now waking up to the realization of Africa’s potential.”
Yaatra Ventures LLC, Intracontinent Asset Holdings Ltd. and Italy’s Saipem SpA are the other partners in the group that will build the plant, estimated by the government to cost about $4 billion.
