Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has emphasised the need for his country to refine its oil instead of exporting it in crude form.“There will be a refinery in Uganda…. I want my own,” Museveni told Parliament on Thursday, last week. He said that one of the mistakes that African oil producing countries make is failure to build a refinery.“All the associated jobs are exported to foreign countries. You also lose the by-products,” he said.He said they had even to hire a company called Fosterwhiller which confirmed that the refinery is the way to go for Uganda.“When it comes to a landlocked country like Uganda there are additional losses we shall suffer when you export crude,” he said. “For a landlocked country to export crude, we shall lose part of the money in transit charges,” he added.Uganda, he said, would lose US$40 per barrel if it does not refine its crude oil and instead export it to Kenya, where it would pay taxes. The President also noted that since Uganda’s oil is waxy, the cost of transporting it would be high. “It is very high due to the cost of continuing to heat the pipeline all the way up to the ocean,” Museveni said.Agencies
