Uganda expects to load its first commercial cargo of crude oil, dubbed “Pearl Sweet”, in December, starting production at the CNOOC-operated Kingfisher field at about 25,000 barrels a day before ramping up, according to Energy Ministry permanent secretary Irene Bateebe.
Output at Kingfisher is projected to rise to its full 40,000-barrel-a-day capacity early next year, with the larger, TotalEnergies-operated Tilenga field, designed for 190,000 barrels a day, expected to add volumes in the following months.
The milestone would make Uganda the world’s newest oil-exporting nation, two decades after commercial reserves were first confirmed in the Albertine Graben in 2006. The government has set a combined production target of about 230,000 barrels a day once both fields reach design capacity, though officials have not given a firm date for that peak and the project has slipped repeatedly, with first-oil targets previously set for 2025 and mid-2026.
President Yoweri Museveni named the export blend “Pearl Sweet” on September 2 during a visit to the Kingfisher Development Area, combining Uganda’s “Pearl of Africa” branding with a reference to the crude’s low sulphur content of 0.12%.
The ministry describes Pearl Sweet as a heavy, sweet crude with high wax content, characteristics it says give refiners strong upgrading potential and suitability for producing low-sulphur fuel oil under IMO 2020 marine fuel standards.
Energy Minister Monica Musenero Masanza presented the grade to international refiners and traders at the APPEC 2026 conference, pitching it to buyers in Asia, the Middle East and Europe; actual buyer commitments have not yet been disclosed.
Crude from Tilenga and Kingfisher will be blended at the Kabaale Shared Facilities in Hoima before entering the 1,443-kilometre East African Crude Oil Pipeline, which reached about 92.7% construction completion as of September 1, according to EACOP.
The heated pipeline, needed because the waxy crude solidifies at lower temperatures, runs to a marine export terminal near Tanga on Tanzania’s coast. The Uganda National Oil Company will market the grade on the government’s behalf alongside trading house Vitol, with sales referenced against Brent.
More than $12 billion of an estimated $15 billion total project cost has been invested across Tilenga, Kingfisher and EACOP, according to project data. UNOC holds a 15% government stake in both upstream projects and, through National Pipeline Company Uganda, a matching 15% interest in EACOP alongside TotalEnergies, CNOOC and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation.
The energy ministry projects annual oil revenue of roughly $500 million initially, rising to about $2 billion a year once production nears peak.
However, not all Ugandans share the government’s optimism. A survey by the Africa Institute for Energy Governance found that most of nearly 250 respondents in communities affected by EACOP construction were dissatisfied with the livelihood-restoration support they received, citing inadequate food assistance and mismatched compensation, such as being given seeds instead of the livestock some households had requested.
Civil society groups including Stop EACOP have separately called for greater transparency over how oil revenue will be managed and shared, concerns that have grown as Uganda has discussed extending pipeline and refinery infrastructure into the Democratic Republic of Congo.
With its first oil now within weeks rather than years, attention is shifting from construction milestones to the terms of Uganda’s Peral Sweet oil contracts and how transparently revenue is tracked, questions that will shape whether the country’s new export status translates into broader public benefit.
