Uganda’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development has awarded Ramboll a contract to conduct an early-phase study for the “Hoima–Kampala Refined Petroleum Products Pipeline” in Uganda, East Africa.
The project concerns a proposed pipeline to be constructed to transport products of crude oil refinement from Uganda Oil Refinery in Hoima to a distribution terminal to be constructed in Buloba, app. 17 km west of Kampala. The total length of the pipeline/corridor is app. 210 km.
Uganda is hoping grab a share of the $5Billion per annum import bill for petroleum products all over East Africa. Only Sudan and South Sudan produce crude oil in the region and even then South Sudan imports petroleum products. Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia rely entirely on imports. Kenya has a refinery that is almost in a comatose state. Uganda’s award of contract for product pipeline study comes at a time it is embarking on construction of a 60,000BOPD capacity refinery. The Hoima-Kampala pipeline is to be developed as part of a refinery project supporting the establishment of a domestic oil and gas industry in Uganda.
Utility corridor study and environmental baseline study
Ramboll’s main scope of work is to carry out:
- A utility corridor study including detailed pipeline routing
- An environmental baseline study (EBS)
The utility corridor of about 110 m wide is required for construction of vital infrastructure comprising refined petroleum products pipeline, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) cables, a dual-carriage highway, and power transmission lines between Hoima and Kampala. Ramboll is required to study and advise on how the planned infrastructure and auxiliary utilities will share the common corridor without compromising the safety, reliability, and integrity of each infrastructure. The pipeline routing will include challenging river and swamp crossings.
National participation by local partner Newplan
Ramboll teamed up with local partner Newplan to win the project. Newplan is also sub-consultant to Ramboll on the greenfield project ‘Kabaale International Airport’ in the Hoima District, which is a new airport intended to service the oil industry and local communities in Western Uganda. Newplan is performing most of the field work for the Hoima–Kampala pipeline such as topographical survey, geological and geotechnical investigations, EBS and ESIA (Environmental and Social Impact Assessment)
A promising market outlook for East Africa
Søren Skovgård Møller, Director of Engineering and Onshore Gas & LNG, in Ramboll Oil & Gas, envisions good opportunities for other projects in East Africa.
“We are using the two ongoing projects in Uganda to actively pursue the East African market for more onshore and offshore projects. We are monitoring the market opportunities in Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda for interesting projects within oil, gas projects as well as industrial master planning. Moreover, we are carefully following the big development projects in Tanzania and Mozambique where Ramboll’s multidisciplinary skills set could be of great value to the developers,” says Møller.
