Petroleum development was one of the key topics discussed during Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi’s official visit to Kampala on May 11, 2026. The two heads of state held private talks ahead of the signing of six memoranda of understanding covering several areas of cooperation between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

According to Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, his Congolese counterpart raised the possibility of jointly developing oil resources in the Albertine Graben, a geological basin that straddles the border between the two countries. Tshisekedi reportedly referred to a reservoir extending across both territories and proposed that Congo's share of the crude be processed using Uganda's existing infrastructure.

Museveni said he had accepted the proposal, citing Uganda's head start in developing the basin. “He made a proposal that I accepted, since Uganda has already developed the pipeline and is working on the refinery. DR Congo would like to participate so its share can also be processed on our side, where the necessary infrastructure is already in place,” the Ugandan president said.

The talks follow discussions held during Tshisekedi’s previous visit to Uganda in October 2024, when both countries had already explored the possibility of the DRC joining the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project. The roughly 1,400-kilometre pipeline is designed to link Uganda’s Murchison Falls National Park to the Tanzanian port of Tanga. The project is being developed jointly by Uganda, Tanzania, TotalEnergies and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to facilitate exports of crude extracted from the Albertine Graben basin.

Uganda holds a significant lead

On the Ugandan side of the basin, two major extraction projects, Tilenga and Kingfisher, are currently under development. According to available data, Tilenga is about 63% complete, while Kingfisher is nearly complete at around 99%.

The ownership structure combines international and national stakeholders. TotalEnergies holds a 56.67% stake, CNOOC holds 28.33%, while the state-owned Uganda National Oil Company holds the remaining 15%. TotalEnergies estimates that, once fully operational, the two projects could produce a combined 230,000 barrels of crude per day.

The terms of any potential Congolese participation, whether involving pipeline access, refining arrangements or contractual frameworks, have not yet been publicly defined.

Meanwhile, in April 2025, the Congolese Council of Ministers adopted a draft decree establishing a framework for awarding petroleum rights to the state-owned company Sonahydroc. The text provided for the direct allocation of certain oil rights to the company under a service contract, particularly for Blocks 1 and 2 of the Albertine Graben.

Timothée Manoke