Iran funds Ugandan oil sector

TEHRAN, May 18 (UPI) -- Iran agreed to funding for the Ugandan oil sector, including considerations for building an oil refinery, following bilateral talks in Tehran, officials said.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni met with his Iranian counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and Iranian commerce officials in Tehran to hold bilateral talks on economic cooperation, Uganda's English-language newspaper The New Vision reports.

Both sides agreed to consider provisions for the construction of an oil refinery in Uganda as well as measures that allow Ugandan petroleum officials to train at the Petroleum University of Technology in Iran.

"Iran also expressed its readiness to invest in the entire value chain of Uganda's petroleum industry," a statement from the Ugandan government said.

Tehran said it would consider fuel supplies to power a thermal-energy facility in Uganda as part of a broader trade package that includes provisions in the mining and agricultural sectors. Ahmadinejad accepted an invitation to visit Uganda as well.

Uganda boasts oil reserves estimated at 600 million barrels at fields in the Albertine Graben.