A CANADIAN-based company that has been exploring for oil near Lake Albert in western Uganda plans to start drilling in February. Heritage Oil & Gas (Uganda) Ltd said its four-year investigation, including a seismic study of the Semiliki basin, 265km west of the capital Kampala, had indicated there were significant oil deposits of between 700m and one billion barrels. It will take at least three years before the first barrel is produced. Uganda imports all its oil needs, and its oil import bill stood at $140m – eight percent of total imports – in the year to June 2000. – Reuters