AfrOil: Uganda renews Oranto’s licence for Lake Albert blocks for two years

Uganda’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development has granted the Nigerian firm Oranto Petroleum a two-year renewal of an oil exploration licence for two blocks in the western part of the country.

The licence extension, which covers the Ngassa Deep and Ngassa Shallow exploration areas, will allow Oranto to conduct both exploration and appraisal drilling activity.

The firm has held the licences for the blocks, which are in the sections of Lake Albert that lie off the coast of the Hoima and Kikuube districts, since 2017. Its permit had been due to expire on December 29, 2023.

Oranto has yet to make any discoveries within its licence areas. Commercial oil deposits were found in Uganda’s Albertine Graben basin, not far from the country’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in 2006. These discoveries lie within the Tilenga and Kingfisher fields, which are due to commence production in 2025.