Uganda’s President visits Chad’s Oil Refinery

President Yoweri Museveni who arrived in the Chadian capital N’Djamena on a two-day official visit during which he will also attend the swearing-in ceremony of President Idriss Deby to his fifth term in office also undertook to visit the country’s refinery as his country sets its eyes on building a similar facility.

President Museveni, accompanied by Chads Minister for Petroleum, Mines and Energy, Hon. Djérassem Le Bémadjiel was flown by chopper to visit Chads Djarmaya Oil Refinery for a tour of the facilities.

He was accompanied by Uganda’s engineers; Irene Batebe the Principal Petroleum Engineer in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (Petroleum Directorate) and Refinery Engineer Benjamin Ariho.

Djarmaya’s refinery can produce 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) of gasoline, kerosene, and heating oil and has its feedstock supplied from the Ronier and Mimosa oilfields in Chad’s southern Bongor region via a 193 mile-long pipeline.

The Djarmaya refinery also produces 40 megawatts of electricity which is utilized by both the facility and the city.

State-owned China National Petroleum Corporation International (CNPCI), a subsidiary of the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) owns 60 percent of the refinery while owns the Chadian government 40 percent.

Chad became an oil-producing nation in 2003 with the completion of a $4bn (£2.6bn) pipeline linking its oilfields to terminals on the Atlantic coast.

Uganda plans to build a 60,000 barrels per day refinery in Hoima with the government currently holding talks with the alternate bidder South Korea’s SK Engineering and Construction after Russia’s RT Global Resources pulled out of the project.

“I congratulate President Idriss Deby for his forsight of building this refinery. Some countries produce petroleum but don’t refine it. He has done the right thing, now Chad produces oil and consumes it. In Uganda, we have some oil wells and that is the route we are taking,” Museveni said.

Over 15 Heads of State are expected to attend tomorrows inauguration ceremony including Benin’s’ President Patrice Talon, Burkina Faso’s Rock Mark Kabore, Ethiopia’s’ Hailemariam Desalegn, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and that of Equatorial Guinea Theodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo among others.

President Debby and his party the Patriotic Movement of Salvation won a 5th term in elections held in April 2016 in a first round vote garnering 61.5 percent of ballots cast against 12.8 percent for his nearest rival Saleh Kebzabo, according to official results.