Chinese oil giant hails Uganda's approval to construct liquidized petroleum gas facility

KAMPALA, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) Uganda Limited said on Friday that it welcomed Uganda's recent license granting for the company to construct the liquidized petroleum gas (LPG) facility on the shores of Lake Albert in western Uganda.

Earlier this week, a cabinet meeting chaired by President Yoweri Museveni at State House in Entebbe approved CNOOC Uganda Limited's application for a license to construct an LGP facility in the country's major oil development area.

"As partners, we have agreed to process and produce LPG, which will be consumed in the region and facilitate the transition to green energy," Aminah Bukenya, head Of corporate affairs at CNOOC Uganda Limited, said in a statement.

The facility will produce clean and affordable energy for the local market in the East African country, according to CNOOC Uganda Limited and Uganda's Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MEMD).

"LPG is important for Uganda because it provides not only a clean and affordable source of energy but also supports efforts to reduce deforestation," said Bukenya. "It also has industrial use as a less carbon-intensive energy source. This will further support Uganda in meeting its climate commitments and efforts toward enabling accessibility to cleaner energy in line with the global movement toward sustainability."

In January, Museveni launched the drilling of oil for commercial production process at the Kingfisher Oil Field, operated by CNOOC Uganda Limited. Uganda in 2006 discovered 6.5 billion barrels of oil, of which 1.4 billion barrels are commercially viable, according to MEMD.