Oil and Gas Companies in Uganda: Business Opportunities Around Lake Albert
Uganda has been an oil and gas story in waiting for two decades. In 2026, that story is finally reaching production, and it’s starting to reshape which businesses are worth watching in the country.
Commercial oil discoveries around Lake Albert, in Uganda’s Western Region, date back to the mid-2000s. What’s changed is timing: the two flagship developments, TotalEnergies’ Tilenga project and CNOOC’s Kingfisher project, are now nearing first oil, with the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) under construction to carry that production roughly 1,400 kilometers to the port of Tanga in Tanzania for export.
Where the opportunity actually sits for local businesses
The headline contracts, drilling, engineering, and pipeline construction, are dominated by the international operators and their established global contractors. That’s not where most Ugandan businesses will compete, and it’s not where the more durable opportunity is either. The government has deliberately ring-fenced a set of supporting services for local companies, on the logic that a resource boom should build domestic capacity, not just export revenue. Sectors typically reserved for or favoring local participation include:
- Civil works and construction support around project sites
- Transport and logistics, including trucking and inland freight
- Catering and hospitality services for project workforces
- Security services
- Manpower and staffing support
How to get considered
- Register on Uganda’s National Supplier Database, the primary channel operators and their contractors use to source local suppliers.
- Expect a capital-intensive sector with long qualification cycles; most Ugandan firms enter as subcontractors before scaling into direct contracts.
- Look beyond the oilfields themselves. Lake Albert and Lake Victoria are seeing rising demand for marine logistics and small boat services, as both the oil sector and general regional trade with the DRC and Tanzania lean more heavily on water transport.
The bigger economic picture
Uganda’s Petroleum Authority has projected outsized GDP growth in the early years of production as oil revenue comes online, with continued elevated growth expected through the rest of the decade as output ramps toward a combined peak of roughly 230,000 to 240,000 barrels per day across the two projects. Whatever the final numbers land on, the practical takeaway for a Ugandan business owner is the same: this sector is no longer a future possibility to watch from a distance, it is actively contracting now.
For businesses outside the direct value chain, the secondary effects are worth watching too, including increased demand in Kampala’s commercial property, engineering and professional services, and workforce housing markets in the districts surrounding Lake Albert.
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