Uganda Gets Raw Deal With Tullow Oil? Secret Documents Leaked Online
Could new oil discoveries lead to exploitation, not wealth in Uganda?
Journalists from the Daily Monitor sued the Ugandan government to get access to its agreements with foreign oil companies under the Access to Information Act, but a court in Nakawa on Feb. 3rd ruled that the public did not have the right to access the deals.
However, London-based advocacy group Platform says it got access to Uganda’s oil-production agreements with British multinational Tullow Oil when they were leaked online– and that the deals were much shadier than many people realize. Platform argues that Uganda got a raw deal:
-The agreements’ figures don’t line up with numbers cited by the government, whose internal numbers say it will receive between
67.5 and 74.2 percent of total revenue. However, a Credit Suisse analysis says government will take between 55 and 67 percent.
And Platform reports that the government could receive anywhere between 47.4 and 79.5 percent of revenues, depending on oil prices and field sizes. Publicly, oil companies and the Ugandan government have said the country will receive at least 80 percent of the revenue from the oil– but none of the documents substantiate that.
-In the most likely scenario, Tullow will receive a 30 to 35 percent return on its investment– much better than other oil agreements around the world, such as Heritage’s agreement with Kurdistan’s regional government, even though oil production
is much riskier there.
The BBC and Observer have reported more on this story. To check out the BBC’s brief take on Platform’s analysis, read here. Or read the Observer’s in-depth story, which digs through the Platform report and responses from Tullow and the Ugandan government.
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