Uganda entered into agreements in 2012 with two international oil entities to use its oil sources. Complete Energies holds 56.67% of the three way partnership partnership and China Nationwide Oil Offshore Firm (CNOOC) has 28.33%. By way of Uganda Nationwide Oil Firm, the federal government owns the remaining 15%.
Manufacturing is because of begin in 2025. As a part of the manufacturing sharing settlement, the manufacturing licences are legitimate for 25 years upon extracting the primary oil.
To safe the very best end result for Uganda, the federal government must give attention to three points: the manufacturing sharing settlement, completion of the event stage, and export timing. My co-authors and I recognized these areas of essential concern in a paper primarily based on my PhD thesis: 4 essays on oil worth uncertainty, optimum funding methods and price transmission of an oil worth shock.
The context
Uganda joined the record of potential oil-producing nations in 2006, with six billion barrels of confirmed oil reserves within the Albertine Graben, a part of the western arm of the east African rift valley. Out of this discovery, 1.4 billion barrels are economically viable for extraction. The peak manufacturing is projected to be between 200,000 and 250,000 barrels of oil per day, and the extraction is anticipated to final 25 years.
The price of extracting oil over this era will quantity to about US$19 billion in capital expenditures and working bills. Earlier than this manufacturing stage, the event of infrastructure, operation amenities, and manufacturing wells will value round US$12.5 billion to US$15 billion.
The annual revenues from oil manufacturing are anticipated to be US$1.5 billion to US$2 billion. The oil revenues have the potential to stimulate Uganda’s financial development and actual family incomes.
However, like many resource-rich sub-Saharan nations, Uganda has restricted capability to solely finance and function immense advanced oil initiatives. Therefore the present production-sharing settlement.
Manufacturing sharing settlement
The pursuits and strategic funding selections of international corporations are certain to be in battle with Uganda’s. That’s why they want an efficient settlement.
Uganda’s ultimate funding determination was initially anticipated in 2015, however was delayed for one more seven years. The explanations included tax disputes, negotiations amongst contract companions, the compensation and relocation of communities affected by the oil challenge, and oil worth volatility.
An efficient manufacturing sharing settlement is one which maximises returns for each the federal government and the businesses. In my PhD thesis, I examined the implications of the settlement, given the danger elements that affect the challenge.
The settlement units out how the federal government and the international corporations will share dangers and revenues all through the challenge’s lifespan.
-
The international corporations carry the price of exploration, growth of the oil fields and crude oil pipeline, and oil manufacturing.
-
The federal government provides different infrastructure for the oil challenge, together with roads and the Hoima Worldwide Airport.
-
The international corporations are allowed to say as much as 60% of their web discipline revenues as value. No matter stays after royalties and price restoration is the “revenue oil” shared between the international corporations and the federal government.
-
The international corporations pay royalties to the federal government primarily based on the each day manufacturing. In addition they pay company revenue tax on their share of the revenue oil. So Uganda earns revenues from royalties, revenue oil and revenue tax.
The roadmap to the primary oil manufacturing
Being a landlocked nation, Uganda has to get its crude oil to a regional seaport. It wants a pipeline by way of Tanzania or Kenya.
In February 2022, Complete Energies and CNOOC signed the choice to develop the oil fields and assemble the East Africa crude oil export pipeline. The pipeline, costing an estimated US$3.5 billion to US$5 billion, is scheduled to be accomplished in time for oil manufacturing in 2025. It would take the oil to the port of Tanga in Tanzania.
A pipeline firm with shareholding from the Uganda Nationwide Oil Firm (15%), the Tanzania Petroleum Growth Company (15%), Complete Energies (62%) and CNOOC (8%) operates the East African pipeline challenge.
Exports timing
It’s important that Uganda’s oil will get to the worldwide market at worthwhile phrases. The stoop in oil costs between 2014 and 2016 resulted within the international corporations drastically trimming their native workforce and reducing their funding budgets by 20% to 30%. The drop in oil costs as a result of COVID-19 pandemic and the following lock-downs in Uganda additionally created uncertainty about when the oil can be able to promote.
The uncertainties concerning the completion of the event stage and crude oil worth volatility nonetheless prevail. This has raised issues about whether or not the challenge can generate returns for the federal government and international corporations.
In my PhD thesis, I targeted on estimating the affect of those uncertainties on the worth of Uganda’s oil challenge, bearing in mind the design of the manufacturing sharing settlement. I discovered that:
-
For the event stage to start out, the worldwide crude oil worth have to be equal to or increased than US$63 a barrel. The crude costs, which fell beneath US$25 per barrel in 2020, have recovered to promote above US$80 now.
-
The required costs to start out oil manufacturing differed among the many events. It was US$18 for the federal government and US$42 for the international corporations. This implies conflicting pursuits. I additional discovered that when crude oil costs are extremely unstable, the federal government prefers to delay manufacturing. The international corporations favor the alternative.
-
I discovered that because the oil worth rises and the challenge turns into worthwhile, the federal government’s income share rises quicker than that of the international corporations. However the oil worth volatility exposes the federal government to income losses when the costs fall.
What subsequent
The event of the oil fields and pipeline has resumed in Uganda after the COVID interval lull. The federal government must design manufacturing sharing agreements to permit for choices that encourage investments by international corporations whereas stabilising authorities revenues from the oil sector. One possibility may very well be delaying funding till oil costs are beneficial.
My outcomes point out that the federal government’s income share is extra delicate to grease worth shocks than the international corporations’ share. These shocks could translate into fluctuations in authorities oil revenues and, in the end, macroeconomic instability. The federal government should think about these shocks when designing and negotiating oil agreements.
Uganda additionally must handle its petroleum fund successfully. It might study a lesson from how Norway manages its oil fund. Some share of its oil revenues must be put apart for the interval when oil earnings start to say no. This is able to counteract the macroeconomic instability arising from sudden authorities oil income adjustments.
