From Nakasongola to Kikuube: Uganda’s Industrial Giant Hosts Its Joint Venture Partner From China.
KAMPALA, Monday, 19th October 2026 — The flags of partnership fluttered quietly at the headquarters of the National Enterprise Corporation in Bugolobi on Monday, as Uganda’s industrial giant opened its doors to its closest Chinese ally. Maj Gen Sabiiti Muzeyi, General Manager of Luwero Industries Limited, hosted a delegation of the Joint Venture partner organization — China Oil HBP Science & Technology Corporation — led by its General Manager, Mr Duan Yingzhe. It was not a courtesy call. It was a meeting of partners who already build together in the oil fields of western Uganda — and who now want to build even more.
The venture at the heart of the meeting is a Joint Venture(JV) between Luweero Industries Limited and China Oil HBP Science & Technology Corporation, trading as Luwero HBP Oil and Gas Ltd. The JV manages and treats oil and gas drilling waste at the Kingfisher Development Area in Kikuube District. Its facility is situated near the Lake Albert escarpment in the Kyangwali area, serving the Kingfisher oil field operated by CNOOC Uganda Limited on behalf of its Joint Venture partners.
Kingfisher is one of Uganda’s most promising oil fields, and the waste facility that protects its environment was built as an industrial waste management facility financed through internally generated resources — a statement of self-reliance, of Uganda paying for its own clean future from its own resources, with its own hands.
The core operations of the plant speak to the seriousness of the partnership. It uses Thermal Desorption Units to recover base oil from drilling cuttings, features an engineered landfill and a wastewater treatment plant, and has treated vast quantities of petroleum and drilling waste since its commissioning. In the Kingfisher Development Area, where the earth gives up its hidden treasure, drill cuttings are not dumped, oil is recovered, water is treated and land is protected. It is a story Uganda tells with pride — that the country will produce its oil but will not poison Lake Albert to do it.
Luwero Industries Limited, a subsidiary of NEC — the commercial arm of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces — is a pillar of Uganda’s industrialisation. From its base in Nakasongola, it manufactures and repairs armoured vehicles, produces medical oxygen, maintains helicopters,makes carpentry machines
, and has grown into one of the brightest jewels in NEC’s crown. Its partner, China Oil HBP Science & Technology Corporation, headquartered in Beijing and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, is a world leader in oil and gas field technology, from high-efficiency separators and natural gas purification to oily waste treatment, produced water treatment and digital intelligent oilfield systems. It operates water treatment plants and wastewater treatment plants across China, and together the two partners have turned an idea into a working model for the entire Albertine Graben.
Monday’s meeting at NEC Headquarters was about widening that relationship, both in oil and gas and more.The discussions moved beyond drilling waste treatment at Kingfisher to expanded cooperation in oil and gas processing, environmental services, equipment and technology transfer, training of Ugandan engineers, and support to other NEC industrial ventures.
Maj Gen Muzeyi welcomed his partner with the warmth of a comrade who has seen the work on the ground, while Mr Duan Yingzhe, leading his delegation, expressed admiration for Uganda’s determination to build local capacity and for Luwero’s professionalism at Kingfisher.
The meeting ended with renewed commitment and a shared vision — that the JV that keeps Kingfisher clean will be the same JV that helps Uganda build an oil industry that is safe, profitable, locally owned and proudly Ugandan. From the meeting, the message was clear. From Nakasongola to Kikuube, from Beijing to Kampala, a partnership already proven in waste is now ready for a wider future in oil, gas and beyond — and for the people of Kikuube, that means jobs, skills, a clean environment and a future they can own.
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