As Malaysian oil runs out, is untapped Uganda the unlikely answer?

Uganda has an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of petroleum reserves. Malaysia’s reserves stood at 2.7 billion barrels as of 2023

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An aerial view of Uganda’s Kingfisher Oil Field run by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation in Kikube. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 1:24pm, 24 Apr 2025

Malaysian firms have been invited to bid for untapped petroleum fields in Uganda as the Southeast Asian nation’s oil and gas industry grapples with fast-depleting resources.

The oil and gas sector is a key contributor to Malaysia’s economy, accounting for roughly 20 per cent of the country’s 1.9 trillion ringgit (US$432 billion) gross domestic product.

But the government has warned that Malaysia’s reserves could dry up by 2038, with output from oilfields in the peninsula already falling to 350,000 barrels a day last year, half the production levels of a decade ago.

Uganda is calling on Malaysian oil and gas players, like national energy giant Petronas, to invest early in its largely untapped petroleum reserves.

The East African nation has already launched deals with French energy firm TotalEnergies and China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) to develop two oil basins in the country’s north and west.

A worker shows a map of the Kingfisher Oilfield’s central processing facility in Kikube, Uganda. Photo: Xinhua

At the launch of a Uganda business forum and expo in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, Energy and Mineral Development Minister Ruth Nankabirwa announced the impending licensing round.

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