Cnooc, Partners in Talks on Uganda Refinery Project

China's Cnooc Ltd. (CEO) and its partners in a Uganda oil production and refining project are working out details of a 200,000-barrel-a-day refinery to be built in the country, the China Daily reported Thursday, citing a senior Ugandan industry official.

The parties are still discussing how the $1.5 billion investment in the project to build a refinery near Lake Albert will be shared, Elly Karuhanga, chairman of the Uganda Chambers of Mines and Petroleum, said in the report.

On Tuesday, Cnooc, the UK's Tullow Oil PLC (TLW.LN) and France's Total SA (TOT) agreed on terms with the Uganda government for the development in the Lake Albert region of three large oil blocks, which will feed the refinery.

Free TrialSome of the oil from the blocks will also be exported overseas via a pipeline to the Kenyan port of Mombasa. Karuhanga said China is expected to be the largest buyer of the crude. The refined products from the refinery will be sold in Uganda and neighboring countries, he said.

Crude-oil production at the three blocks is projected to start in 2013, with full output being achieved three years later. The refinery is scheduled to start operations by 2015.

(Downstreamtoday, Edited by Topco)