Exploration Area 4B in Uganda

Exploration Area 4B (EA4B) was licensed to Dominion Petroleum Company in July 2007. In May 2012 Ophir Energy acquired Dominion's exploration rights to EA4B, which it sold just five months later to Octant Energy Corporation. However the government has not does not recognize either of these two buyers, and Ernest Rubondo, the commissioner of Uganda's Petroleum Exploration and Production Department (PEPD), said in a statement that Dominion's production sharing agreement granted it exclusive rights to explore petroleum until 2013, and that the government does not recognize Ophir. The news agency Daily Monitor wrote in December 2012 it was unclear how Ophir Energy could have gained ownership of the rights over Exploration Block 4B without the consent of the minister.