In September 2025, TotalEnergies EP Uganda convened the inaugural Tilenga Social Performance Forum at the Sheraton Kampala Hotel and released its 2025 Social Report. The headline number: more than 10,500 Ugandans employed across the Tilenga project since first oil work began, with a growing majority of those jobs held by nationals.
The forum, co-hosted with the Petroleum Authority of Uganda and opened by Energy Minister Okaasai Sidronius Opolot, was pitched as evidence that Uganda's flagship upstream development is delivering measurable local value. It was also, plainly, a response to years of critical reporting - LivingWellUganda's included - on displacement and compensation along the Tilenga and EACOP corridors.
What the report claims
TotalEnergies documents road upgrades, borehole works, agri-business training and a new Tilenga Agri-Business Forum linking smallholder farmers in Buliisa to project supply chains. The company points to more than 100 million dollars in local procurement in 2024 alone, and to school and clinic works in the Kingfisher-adjacent parishes.
Value has to be measured in what the household budget looks like after the trucks leave, not while they are still here.
What the field record still shows
None of the 2025 social-report figures cancels the FIDH, Human Rights Watch and Guardian findings that many households displaced by EACOP and Tilenga remain inadequately compensated. Both pictures are true at the same time. The forum's most useful outcome would be to publish grievance-resolution data with the same detail as the jobs numbers. Until that happens, LivingWellUganda will continue to file both stories side by side.
- Empowering Communities: TotalEnergies Showcases Social Impact at Tilenga Forum - TotalEnergies Uganda
- Over 10,500 Ugandans get jobs as Tilenga Oil Project Expands Community Support - Daily Express Uganda
- TotalEnergies spotlights Tilenga Project's community impact - PML Daily
- Tilenga Agribusiness Forum empowers farmers - Business Focus Uganda
