Provided by Dow Jones By Nicholas Bariyo KAMPALA, Uganda--French oil giant Total SE said it expects to start commercial oil production from its Ugandan oil fields by early 2025. As much as $10 billion is required to develop the oil fields and build a 900-mile export pipeline to tap around 1.4 billion barrels of crude from Uganda's western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the company's chief executive Patrick Pouyanne's remarks delivered Sunday in Uganda's lakeside city of Entebbe, where Ugandan and Tanzanian leaders signed several agreements to clear the project. Total's latest projection is less optimistic than an earlier prediction of first commercial oil by 2024, as the landlocked nation grapples with the delayed commercialization of its crude fields, first discovered in 2006. Moody's Investor Service expected the commercialization of the oil fields to significantly boost Uganda's growth.