Sedimentary Basins



  • Six sedimentary basins: Albertine Graben, Hoima, Lake Kyoga, Moroto-Kadam, Lake Wamala and Lake Victoria.
  • Discoveries have been made in the Albertine Graben, over 80% drilling success rate, most explored to date and the most prolific.
  • Hoima, Lake Kyoga, and Moroto-Kadam basins have been opened up for petroleum exploration.




  • The Cenozoic (25 Ma - 30 Ma) Albertine graben is approximate 500km by 45km, extends from the borders of South Sudan and Uganda in the north to the Rwanda border in the south and Democratic Republic of Congo in the West and was developed on the Precambrian (3.0 Ga - 4.5 Ga) orogenic belts of the African craton.
  • Fluvial-lacustrine sediments dominate the basin's stratigraphic column with about 6km of Miocene to Pleistocene sedimentary strata at its deepest part. The graben comprises of a series of interbedded sandstones and shales.
  • Caprocks: The clay rocks encountered in the wells provide good seals
  • Reservoirs: Multistorey-mullilateral channelized sandstone reservoirs with fairly good porosity and permeability properties (porosity in the range of 20-35% and permeability ranging from millidarcies to tens of Darcies.
  • Traps: Mostly structural although stratigraphic traps exist.
  • Structures: Faults, folds, flower structures.
  • Source rocks: Lacustrine shale with a mixture of type 2 and type 3 kerogen.
Rock exposure in Semliki Basin (part of the Albertine Graben).


Contact Information

Address : Plot 21-29 Johnston Road, Entebbe
Country : Uganda
Telephone : +256 414 320714
Email : communications@petroleum.go.ug
Web : www.petroleum.go.ug

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