Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said on Thursday that the country still maintained its position of constructing an oil refinery despite foreign pressures that the project was not economically viable.
President Museveni said while delivering the State of Nation Address at Parliament that some foreigners were urging Uganda to export its crude oil to the Kenyan seaport of Mombasa and sell it to the regional and international markets.
"Some people think Africa is a playing place where you go and play games. NRM (Uganda's ruling party) is not part of that league. Government is carrying out a feasibility study to determine the optimum size and type of refinery that we need," he said, amid applause from the legislators.
Government and Tullow Oil, an Irish company exploring for oil in western Uganda, have been in negotiations on whether to set up an oil refinery or export the crude to Mombasa.
President Museveni said during his recent visit to Iran, the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad advised him that there was no problem setting up the refinery.
During the visit held mid last month, Iran agreed to jointly fund the construction of an oil refinery in Uganda and also train Ugandans in relevant fields of petroleum.
"Once we build our refinery, we are not going to import petroleum," President Museveni said, noting that an Early Production Scheme will start late next year.
The commercial production is expected to offset the country's enormous fuel import bill of millions of dollars annually.
Experts have cautioned Uganda not to make mistakes like other oil producing African countries which are currently facing civil strife.
The country's current discoveries are estimated at over 600 million barrels of oil.