Uganda’s petroleum regulator announced that it has halted operations at CNOOC’s Kingfisher oil project area due to a fatal incident that occurred on Friday.
The Petroleum Authority of Uganda conveyed its concerns about previous safety incidents to CNOOC Uganda Limited. However, the authority did not provide further details regarding the incident. A spokesperson for CNOOC, Aminah Bukenya, stated that they would provide comments at a later time.
In the meantime, the authority has scheduled a meeting for Sunday, during which no activities other than safety and security work will be allowed at the Kingfisher field. Commercial drilling of oil wells at the field began in January as Uganda works towards its goal of achieving its first oil output in 2025, following significant delays.
Kingfisher represents one of Uganda’s two major oil development projects, with the other, Tilenga, being operated by France’s TotalEnergies. Uganda plans to reach peak production levels of around 230,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Uganda first discovered crude oil reserves in the Albertine rift basin near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006. Government geologists estimate that the country possesses confirmed reserves of 6.5 billion barrels of oil, with 2.2 billion barrels considered recoverable.