The Kingfisher site, operated by CNOOC Uganda Ltd, is one of two commercial oil development projects in the country. The other – at Tilenga in western Uganda – is operated by France’s TotalEnergies.

At the commissioning ceremony, Museveni thanked the French government for not giving in to European Parliament pressure for TotalEnergies to drop the Uganda project over environmental and human rights concerns.

“France has not given us trouble. For the EU parliament, we told them to go to hell but the French government did not cause us any problems,” Museveni said.

“This oil is not a problem at all. First of all, the carbon dioxide which comes out of these fossil fuels is not necessarily a problem if it is handled well.”

The EU Parliament and environmentalists have warned against development of Uganda’s oilfields and the construction of a 1,443km (897 miles) pipeline to carry crude oil from Hoima in western Uganda to the port of Tanga in Tanzania.

Last year, MEPs passed a resolution calling for a halt to the pipeline project on environmental and human rights grounds. Environmentalists say construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which passes near Lake Victoria, will contaminate water supplies and harm wildlife.

Responding to the EU’s decision last year, China’s ambassador to Uganda Zhang Lizhong said the bloc “should not use the excuse of environmental and human rights issues to block development” of the oilfields and the oil pipeline.

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In his address at the ceremony on Tuesday, Zhang said the start of the operation, a process known as rig spudding, is “an important milestone in the development of Uganda’s oil industry and will have a far-reaching impact on social economic transformation of Uganda”.

“This is also a landmark project in China-Uganda cooperation. The Kingfisher oilfield project ... is so far China’s largest investment project in Uganda. I firmly believe it will contribute more to the practical cooperation between our two countries,” he said.

Ugandan Energy and Mineral Development Minister Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu said activists had tried to interfere with the project “but we had a united voice and we were able to put in place all the legislations required in good time”.

More than 70 African civic groups released a statement on Tuesday accusing the Ugandan government, CNOOC and TotalEnergies of ignoring citizen voices and climate science in pushing ahead with the “perilous” projects.

The statement called on them to put the economic well-being of Ugandans, biodiversity conservation and climate action first by investing in clean energy.

The groups are concerned about the potential impacts of the Kingfisher project, which will extract oil from Lake Albert.

“The Kingfisher oil project also puts the water access of millions of people who rely on Lake Albert in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at risk,” the statement said.

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Ernest Rubondo, executive director of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda, said development of the Kingfisher oilfield is expected to cost more than US$2 billion over the next three years and a further US$1.63 billion over the remaining 20 years of its life.

At current oil prices of about US$87.5 per barrel, the Kingfisher project will account for about 15 per cent of the government’s total oil revenues, earning US$6.9 billion in total, or US$360 million per year, he said.

Rubondo said the Kingfisher oilfield is expected to produce 190 million barrels – 33 per cent of its estimated total of 560 million barrels – over 20-25 years. He noted that maximum output is estimated at 40,000 barrels per day for five years, after which production will start to decline.

Uganda has an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of crude oil, the equivalent of 1.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

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Since commercially viable oil deposits were discovered on the shores of Lake Albert, at the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2006 by British company Tullow Oil, production has been delayed by disagreements, funding issues and infrastructure setbacks.

In 2020, Tullow sold its stake in the project to TotalEnergies, which holds a 56.7 per cent stake in the oilfields. CNOOC has a 28.33 per cent share, while the Ugandan government holds the remaining 15 per cent via the Uganda National Oil Company.

The three partners announced a US$10 billion final investment decision for the project in February last year, including oilfield development and construction of the pipeline to carry crude oil harvested from beneath Lake Albert and Murchison Falls National Park.

TotalEnergies controls a 62 per cent interest in the pipeline, with Uganda National Oil Company and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation each holding 15 per cent. CNOOC has the remaining 8 per cent.