Uganda plans to hold its third oil block licensing round next year, inviting companies to explore for oil and gas that could potentially boost Uganda’s economic output.

Uganda discovered crude oil reserves in the Albertine rift basin near the border with Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006 and has previously held two licensing rounds but a large portion of the basin remains unexplored.

Government estimate the country's confirmed reserves at 6.5 billion barrels of oil with at least 1.4 billion estimated to be economically recoverable.

In February TotalEnergies and its partner China National Offshore Oil Corporation signed a final investment decision with Uganda and Tanzania to kick-start investments worth more than $10 billion to produce and export Uganda's crude.

Part of that investment will involve a $3.5 billion pipeline that will help ship landlocked Uganda's crude to the world markets via a port on Tanzania's Indian Ocean coast.