KAMPALA, Sept 3 – Uganda has named its crude oil grade “Pearl Sweet”, marking another step towards the East African country’s planned entry into commercial oil production by the end of 2026.
President Yoweri Museveni unveiled the name during a ceremony in Kikuube district, about 250 kilometres west of Kampala. The name combines Uganda’s description as the “Pearl of Africa” with the term “Sweet”, which refers to the crude’s relatively low sulphur content.
Uganda discovered commercially viable oil reserves about two decades ago in fields located within the Albertine Rift Basin along its border with the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, the start of production has been repeatedly delayed by infrastructure constraints and disagreements between the government and international oil companies over development plans.
The government is now targeting the end of 2026 for commercial production, with recoverable reserves estimated at about 1.65 billion barrels. Production is expected to reach a peak of approximately 230,000 barrels per day.
Following the naming of the crude grade, the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) said the companies developing the country’s oil fields would begin engaging potential buyers and refiners.
According to UNOC, the next stage will involve “outreach to different refineries, market intelligence activities and commercial negotiations with interested parties.” The process is intended to establish markets for the country’s crude ahead of full-scale production.
France’s TotalEnergies is the largest shareholder in the upstream developments, holding a 56.67% stake. China’s CNOOC owns 28.33%, while UNOC holds the remaining interest.
The crude will be transported to international markets through the $5 billion East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), a 1,443-kilometre pipeline connecting Uganda’s oil-producing region to the port of Tanga on Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast.
The project is designed to transport Uganda’s crude for export and is described as the world’s longest electrically heated crude oil pipeline. Its completion is therefore central to Uganda’s plans to convert its oil reserves into export revenue.
UNOC said Pearl Sweet has broadly similar characteristics to other waxy and sweet crude blends produced in the region, including Chad’s Doba and the Nile and Dar crude streams from South Sudan and Sudan.
The naming of the grade comes as Uganda moves from developing its upstream oil infrastructure towards securing commercial buyers and refining markets. The success of those negotiations, alongside completion and commissioning of the necessary production and transportation infrastructure, will be critical to determining whether the country meets its latest target for commercial output.
If production begins as planned, Uganda would become a new crude oil exporter in East Africa, adding another source of energy and export revenue to the region while creating new trade and logistics flows between Uganda and Tanzania.
