Uganda formally unveils Pearl Sweet oil to global market

It emerged that “Pearl” reflects Uganda’s identity as the Pearl of Africa, while “Sweet” refers to the crude’s low sulphur content of 0.12 percent.

Pearl Sweet is being pitched in the global market as a heavy, sweet crude with high wax content and low acidity. These characteristics offer refiners strong upgrading potential in secondary units, reduced corrosion and suitability for producing very low sulphur fuel oil under the IMO 2020 standard.

“It is my great honour and privilege to be here at APPEC 2026 for this historic occasion: the unveiling of Uganda’s crude oil to the global market,” Dr Musenero was quoted in a statement.

She added: “Pearl Sweet, therefore, offers refiners across Asia, the Middle East and Europe a reliable and competitive feedstock with a strong balance of operational flexibility, product value and refinery economics.”

According to Dr Musenero, the Ugandan government is determined to ensure that the oil and gas sector does not operate as an enclave or extractive activity, but instead serves as a catalyst for industrialisation.

She invited refiners, traders and investors to consider Pearl Sweet and the wider opportunities in Uganda’s oil and gas sector.

“I invite all of you to interest yourselves in Pearl Sweet crude, and in the other exciting opportunities in oil and gas in Uganda, the Pearl of Africa.”

The unveiling is part of Uganda’s push to give its crude oil a recognisable identity among traders, refiners and analysts, while positioning Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC), which holds a 15 percent state participating interest on behalf of the Ugandan government, as an established crude-marketing and trading organisation.

Earlier, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Eng Irene Bateebe, said the government had navigated at least five critical steps before selecting Pearl Sweet as the name under which Ugandan crude oil will trade.

She said the naming process involved a technical review of the crude’s actual characteristics, stakeholder consultations involving government bodies and joint venture partners, evaluation against branding criteria, industry appeal and ease of pronunciation.

She added that global sensitivity, technical accuracy, developing formal naming criteria, and generating and shortlisting candidate names were also crucial before the final approval by President Museveni.

On First Oil preparedness, Kingfisher, which is partly operated by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), with a 28.33 percent stake, is 98 percent complete and is now entering commissioning and testing, after which it is expected to be ready to contribute 40,000 barrels per day by the end of this month.

Other project players include UNOC, which holds a 15 percent state participating interest on behalf of the Ugandan government, and TotalEnergies, which operates the Tilenga Project with a 56.6 percent stake.

Ahead of commercial production, President Museveni warned against impulsive spending, saying he expects less importation of perfumes, wines and cars.

“The money will be to build durable things which will be there for the grandchildren, like power stations, hydropower stations, and railways,” Mr Museveni said in Kikuube last week.

He added that because the oil reserves will be depleted after some years, the doctrine is to use the exhaustible resource to create durable capacity.

Uganda’s petroleum resource base is estimated at approximately 6.5 billion barrels of oil in place, of which about 1.4 billion barrels are recoverable, alongside about 500 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

These resources have been confirmed in less than 20 percent of the Albertine Graben, leaving further potential for exploration and investment.

The country’s crude oil commercialisation plan comprises upstream production capacity of approximately 230,000 barrels per day at peak, a planned 60,000-barrel-per-day refinery and crude oil exports through the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).

Since the Final Investment Decision for Tilenga, Kingfisher and EACOP in February 2022, the Ugandan government, investors, contractors and Ugandan professionals have worked to advance the projects towards production.

Together with the planned refinery and associated infrastructure, investments are estimated at approximately $20 billion.

EACOP will transport Uganda’s crude 1,443 kilometres from Hoima to the marine export terminal at the Port of Tanga in Tanzania. Construction of the pipeline and export terminal has surpassed 90 percent completion.

Uganda’s petroleum development also includes a planned 60,000-barrel-per-day refinery at Kabaale in Hoima District, together with a 211-kilometre multi-products pipeline and petroleum products storage terminal.

Beyond the current developments, exploration continues in the Moroto-Kadam, Lake Kyoga and Hoima basins, while preparations are underway for Uganda’s Third Petroleum Licensing Round.

Given the nature of Uganda’s crude and the planned refinery, the country expects to produce transportation fuels, including petrol, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking, jet or aviation fuel, and some heavy fuel oil.