The project concerns a proposed pipeline to be constructed to transport products of crude oil refinement from Uganda Oil Refinery in Hoima to a distribution terminal to be constructed in Buloba, app. 17 km west of Kampala with the total length of the pipeline/corridor is app. 210 km.

 

The Hoima-Kampala pipeline is to be developed as part of a refinery project supporting the establishment of a domestic oil and gas industry in Uganda.

 

Ramboll’s main scope of work is to carry out:

 

A utility corridor study including detailed pipeline routing

An environmental baseline study (EBS)

The utility corridor of about 110 m wide is required for construction of vital infrastructure comprising refined petroleum products pipeline, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) cables, a dual-carriage highway, and power transmission lines between Hoima and Kampala.

 

Ramboll is thus required to study and advise on how the planned infrastructure and auxiliary utilities will share the common corridor without compromising the safety, reliability, and integrity of each infrastructure. The pipeline routing will include challenging river and swamp crossings.

 

Ramboll teamed up with local partner Newplan to win the project. Newplan is also sub-consultant to Ramboll on the greenfield project ‘Kabaale International Airport’ in the Hoima District, which is a new airport intended to service the oil industry and local communities in Western Uganda.

 

Newplan is performing most of the field work for the Hoima–Kampala pipeline such as topographical survey, geological and geotechnical investigations, EBS and ESIA (Environmental and Social Impact Assessment)

 

Søren Skovgård Møller, Director of Engineering and Onshore Gas & LNG, in Ramboll Oil & Gas, envisions good opportunities for other projects in East Africa including in Rwanda and Burundi.

 

“We are using the two ongoing projects in Uganda to actively pursue the East African market for more onshore and offshore projects. We are monitoring the market opportunities in Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda for interesting projects within oil, gas projects as well as industrial master planning,” says Møller.

 

Ramboll adds that it is following the big development projects in Tanzania and Mozambique where its’s multidisciplinary skills set could be of great value to the developers.

Source : OIL NEWS KENYA