Prime
The government navigated at least five critical steps before selecting “Pearl Sweet” as the name with which Uganda’s crude oil will trade when commercial production starts later this month.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Ms Irene Bateebe, said Uganda needed an official trading name for the country’s crude blend, since global crude grades are identified and traded under several recognisable competing blends worldwide.
“The naming process involved a technical review of the crude’s actual characteristics; stakeholder consultation, involving government bodies and Joint Venture Partners; evaluation against branding criteria; industry appeal, and ease of pronunciation,” she said on Thursday.
She added that global sensitivity, technical accuracy, developing formal naming criteria, generating and shortlisting candidate names was also crucial before the final approval by President Museveni.
According to Ms Bateebe, naming gives Uganda’s crude a recognisable identity for traders, refiners, and analysts, and positions the Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) as an established crude-marketing and trading organisation, among other benefits.
After President Museveni announced the new name of the crude oil at the Kingfisher Development Area in Kikuube District on Wednesday, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Development, Dr Monica Musenero, said Uganda had adopted the “African approach” where a name is given meaning when meaning can be attached.
“Pearl Sweet reflects very low sulfur, but it also represents purity and innocence, which speaks of our extreme care in making sure that we do not pollute, and the environment is kept better than it was before. It represents wisdom gained through experience ... and it represents strength,” she said on Wednesday.
Mr Museveni said he had been told that the name Pearl Sweet Petroleum had been chosen, and he asked if there was sugar in the fuel, but had been told that it is “sweet” because it lacks sulfur.
“When the petroleum has got sulfur, it is more expensive to remove the sulfur; this one either has got no sulfur or very low sulfur. That’s why they are calling it sweet, and the Pearl is Uganda,” Mr Museveni said, adding that while some crude can be exported, the refinery must get priority.
“The refinery will be one of the most profitable because it is far from the ocean and will save Uganda $12.77 in transport costs accrued through the importation of each barrel of oil. We shall no longer spend $2 billion a year importing petroleum,” Mr Museveni said.
He added that because the oil reserve will be depleted after some years, the doctrine is to use the exhaustible to create durable capacity.
Mr Museveni said, warning against impulsive spending when the money starts coming.
“Please don’t expect to import more perfumes, wines and more cars; the money will be to build durable things which will be there for the grandchildren, like power stations, hydropower stations, and railways.”
About the project
The project is on three critical projects: the upstream or Kingfisher Development Area, which is partly operated by CNOOC (28.33 percent), TotalEnergies, which operates the Tilenga Project (56.5 percent) and UNOC, which holds a 15 percent stake participating interest on behalf of the government.
As of Wednesday, Kingfisher was at about 80 percent complete, and when it comes to its first oil preparedness, they are at 98 percent, and now entering the commissioning testing, shortly after which they should be ready to produce 40,000 barrels per day by the end of this month.
FIVE KEY STEPS
