The development of Uganda’s oil resources, from the upstream production undertaken by Tullow Oil with partners CNOOC and Total, to downstream plans to build a refinery has taken much longer than investors would have liked, amid disagreements between investors and Uganda’s policy-maker in chief, President Yoweri Museveni. Understanding the political underpinnings of Uganda’s protracted progress towards becoming an oil producer is essential to anyone seeking to analyse the process and its future role in the regional energy configuration, and helpful pointers came from the 9-11 September African Studies Association of the UK biennial conference, held at the University of Sussex.