French oil major, Total, is set to go ahead with its Ugandan exploration projects.
The company will spend more than $300m this year in, what the company described as, "a very intensive appraisal programme" of block EA-1 and as many as seven wells being drilled in block EA-1A, both of which are operated by Total.
The company is also working in partnership with China's CNOOC and Ireland's Tullow Oil as part of a $2.9bn plan to access resources in Uganda's Albertine rift basin. The government claims that some 2.5bn barrels lies in the five blocks involved in the project, with as much as 1.2bn barrels recoverable.
The sale of the blocks has been marred by various legal wrangles involving Tullow and other companies, leading to an ongoing government probe into accusations of bribery and corruption in the Ugandan oil sector.
Small-scale oil production is expected to start later this year as exploration activities ramp up.