Plans to construct a new refinery in Uganda and upgrade an existing one in Kenya are already afoot, according to an oil and gas analyst.

Jeffrey Kerr, the managing oil and gas analyst for GlobalData, on Tuesday said this has led to an amazing corporation between Kenya, Uganda, Congo, Rwanda and Burundi and improved relations between the countries.

Kerr added that government delegates from these countries and three global oil firms have agreed to corporate in the erection of this 30 mbd refinery in Hoima, Uganda.

This new Uganda refinery will treat some of the oil that comes from Lake Albert, where Uganda’s crude oil discovery is located.

The global oil companies involved in this project include Ireland’s Tullow Oil, France’s Total and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).

In addition, Kenya’s Petroleum Refinery Limited’s (KPRL) oil factory requires an improvement because of continued disregard in the past couple of years.

Because of this, KPRL and India’s Essar Petroleum are discussing a $1.2 billion funding arrangement for the upgrade of this factory.

The money will be used for classy hydro-treating parts for the refinery and expand special refinement to 70 mbd.

The states of Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda have also endorsed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to assist in the success of these projects.

The MoU is aimed at providing money for pipelines that could move crude oil through these states.

The crude oil pipeline will start in South Sudan and criss cross Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya, among others.

The construction of the new refineries in Uganda and the improvement of an existing one in Kenya has been prompted by estimates that the need for “aggregated” processed oil products in East Africa could more than double in 2025.