Construction works in Kingfisher area to commence soon- says CNOOC

Officials from the China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) Uganda Limited have said construction works for Kingfisher Development Area in Kikuube are set to start next year.

Last week, the Chinese company led a team of journalists for a visit to the numerous projects including the overview of the project, proposed oil well areas, ongoing construction of houses for Project Affected Persons (PAPs) among others in Kikuube district .

According to the CNOOC Head of Corporate Affairs, Zakaria Lubega, majority of the processes like compensation of the project affected person  had been made and soon real construction works would kick off.

He also noted that CNOOC never delayed the announcement of the Final Investment Decision (FID) because it is not an event but rather a process which has been ongoing across the board for all partners where one needs to acquire the land, have the environment and Social Impact Assessment Study undertaken and approved, as well as go through procurement processes.

Lubega noted that big contracts take a lot of time and resources as well as enabling laws from the

government to ensure that there is proper legislation under which you will be operating and some of the

legislations are as new as one to two weeks ago and some have not been approved.

“We were going through that process to ensure that when we make an announcement of Final Investment Decision, nothing is

going to stop us and now that everything seems to be ready, we are one leg into Final Investment Decision and the other leg is closely following,” he added.

In regards to the environment update on the oil spill contingency plan for Kingfisher oil field and feeder

pipeline, Nicholas Kiiza the CNOOC Environment Supervisor said the company  has undertaken the implementation of the flood hazard and flood assessment study for Lake Albert shore of Kingfisher oil field to prepare for any oil spills in case they happen in future.

“We are undertaking a number of studies like the Meta Ocean Study, studying the behavior of the lake, we had undertaken hydrological study for lake Albert and other water bodies that are catchment to Lake Albert,” Kiiza added.

Under the Livestock and Agriculture Livelihood Restoration Program (LRP), project affected persons  in the region have received both agricultural and livestock inputs to boost their income.

The ongoing agriculture and livestock projects for project affected persons in Kyangwali sub county are targeting over 250 households where people have received crop inputs including maize and beans as well as livestock inputs like boran bulls, goats, chicken and pigs among others.

Officials also say there is also ongoing construction of resettlement houses for affected persons across three  subcounties of  Kyangwali, Kabwoya and Buseruka.

The CNOOC Head of Corporate Affairs also noted that the company has also conducted numerous engagements with Ugandans to support the national content law.

“We held the quarter three supplier development engagement with suppliers and potential suppliers on 30 September 2021, completed the Enterprise Development online training program 2021 that trained over 150 SMEs from Albertine and Kampala regions and the training and licensing of 70 heavy goods vehicle drivers,” he noted.