By KT Reporter
The development phase of the oil and gas sector his currently employing over 13000 Ugandans according Energy Minister, Ruth Nankabirwa.
Speaking at the opening of the 5th Annual National Content Conference 2024, Nankabirwa said fourteen thousand four hundred fifty-one (14,451) people were directly employed by Licensed Oil Companies, their contractors and sub-contractors.
“At peak, it is expected that about 160,000 people will be employed. By end of June 2024, fourteen thousand four hundred fifty-one (14,451) people were directly employed by Licensed Oil Companies, their contractors and sub-contractors. Of these, thirteen thousand forty-eight (13,048) are Ugandans (90%), among whom four thousand four hundred eight-three (4,483) employees where from the communities where oil and gas activities are being undertaken” she said.
Nankabirwa said in line with the national content requirements, the government still insists that priority for employment is given to Ugandans at all levels, with focus on the communities hosting the operations. In 2018, Government put in place the Local Content Policy for the Oil and Gas industry which aims at increasing the participation of Ugandan citizens and enterprises in the Oil and Gas industry from the current 28% to 80% by 2040.
“Uganda is now one of the established petroleum provinces in the world, with an estimated volume of 6.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent initially in place, with 1.4 billion barrels recoverable and these resources discovered to date are sufficient to support the commercial production of petroleum in the country.” she said
She revealed that over 300 Government officers have been trained in various Oil and Gas training programs including Petroleum Engineering, Geology, Geophysics, Law, Economics, Taxation, Auditing, and Finance among others. These have been key in the management and decision making in the Oil and Gas Sector to date.
This year’s conference under the theme “Advancing National Content in the Oil and Gas Sector, Three Years after FID” has brought together the industry players, supplier and potential investors.
National Content Conferences are organised as one of the avenues to create awareness on opportunities available in the sector, how they can be accessed, and are a platform for fostering collaboration, sharing insights and ensuring Uganda’s oil and gas sector benefits all stakeholders.
This year’s conference was organized by the Petroleum Authority of Uganda and the Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum.
Ernest Rubondo, the Executive Director of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU) said although most of the thinking has been on the value that will accrue when revenues from sale of crude oil begin to flow, it is increasingly clear that there is a lot of value to achieve even before the revenues from selling oil start flowing.
He said Uganda’s oil and gas sector has emerging opportunities across the entire value chain that is in exploration, in development, in operation and maintenance during production, and in the midstream aspects of refining and pipeline transportation.
“We are therefore delighted that this conference has been graced with participants from Nigeria whose indigenous companies have broken through and are actively participating across the entire petroleum value chain,” said Rubondo
Under regulation 5 of the Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) (National Content) Regulations 2016, the Petroleum Authority of Uganda is requires to organize conferences and other means of education to further the development of national content in the country’s oil and gas sector.
Rubondo reiterated the Authority’s commitment to working with all stakeholders to ensure sustainable development and regulation of Uganda’s oil and gas sector, with a view to maximize value retention from Uganda’s oil and gas sector and contribute to Uganda being a sound investments.
He said as the country’s first oil is more in sight, the focus for this year’s conference, in line with the theme, is to take stock of the achievements including the capacity built and the opportunities ahead both in country (in the operations phase) and out of the country-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
