Review ESIA Kingfisher oil development - Uganda

25 March 2019

24-28 February, Hoima - The Kingfisher oil development project is located at the borders of Lake Albert, Uganda, and consists of oil production facilities, supporting infrastructure and a feeder pipeline to a planned refinery and oil export pipeline.

An ESIA for this project has been submitted to the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA). NEMA requested NCEAs support in reviewing this ESIA. In an interactive workshop - also with representatives from lead agencies and the Norwegian Environment Agency - the ESIA report was discussed. An additional field visit allowed the group to get a good impression of the project site and to involve local stakeholders. Although the ESIA report is generally of good quality, the NCEAs advice contains recommendations on several issues, such as:

• alternatives for project infrastructure
• biodiversity impacts, such as vulnerable species and habitats, Bugoma forest and Lake Albert
• social impacts, related to autonomous and project related population increase
• Unplanned events and emergency response
• CO2 and energy footprint