Uganda’s national oil company and Chinese firm CNOOC, will be exploring jointly a new oil and gas block in the Albertine Basin. A memorandum of understanding was signed for the deal while President Yoweri Museveni was attending an Africa-China forum in Beijing, a statement issued by his office said.

The block the pair are to explore was not named, though it is in the same prolific basin that is getting ready for production in 2021. CNOOC already holds stakes in that basin, following the government mandated split up of the Tullow blocks several years ago.

“The exploration aims to increase the amount of crude oil produced in Uganda to support the operations of the refinery as well as the oil pipeline,” the statement read.