Safety Concerns Suspend Uganda Oil Field Development

By Nicholas Bariyo

KAMPALA Uganda--Development of Uganda's $2 billion Kingfisher oil field is being hampered by work stoppages caused by the flouting of safety regulations, the Petroleum Authority of Uganda said Monday.

Work at the oil field, along Uganda's western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been suspended over the past two days following an accident last week in which a worker was killed. The worker died after being crushed by a truck within the facility, operated by China's Cnooc Ltd, Ugandan officials said. A company spokesperson could not be immediately reached for comment.

Output at the 40,000 barrels-a-day oil field was initially slated to come on stream in early 2025, but the regulator said that works will remain suspended until an investigation into the accident is carried out.

"The incident follows several safety incidents that this authority has brought to the attention of Cnooc," the regulator said. "This trend is unacceptable as it compromises the safety of personnel and damages the reputation of the sector."

Kingfisher is jointly owned by Cnooc Ltd and France's TotalEnergies, who hope to start pumping as much as 230,000 barrels-a-day out of Ugandan operations by 2025.

Write to Nicholas Bariyo at nicholas.bariyo@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 09, 2023 05:57 ET (09:57 GMT)

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