Uganda’s government has rubber-stamped plans to award two exploration licences in the oil-rich area of Lake Albert.

These previously relinquished blocks lie close to TotalEnergies’ and CNOOC International’s huge Tilenga and Kingfisher fields which, between them, hold billions of barrels of oil due to be piped to a refinery in Uganda and to global markets via Tanga port in Tanzania and the controversial EACOP pipeline.

Uganda’s cabinet approved the signing of production sharing agreements and the issuance of exploration licences to state-owned UNOC and Australia-listed DGR Energy.