The Minister of Energy and Mineral development, Ruth Nankabirwa has said Uganda is determined and progressively soon to become an oil producing country.
“It is not far-fetched to believe that soon, Uganda will become an oil producing country. Work on the ground has commenced and is continuing steadily and we are optimistic to achieving it soon,” Minister said on Tuesday.
Minister made the statement while opening the 3rd national content conference in oil and gas which is ongoing at Serena Hotel.
The two day conference is being held under the theme of ‘Creating Lasting Value through Enhanced National Participation to Accelerate Uganda’s Socioeconomic Transformation’.
According to Minister Nankabirwa it is important to undertake strategies to enhance value retention and ensure that Oil and Gas sector transforms the social and economic lives of Ugandans.
She further announced that the country has taken the necessary steps to put in place enabling legislation to ensure that all the gains projected from the sector come to fruition.
The National Oil and Gas Policy provides for the use of the country’s oil and gas resources to contribute to early achievement of poverty eradication and to create lasting value to society.
The conference comes at the time when discussions on how value from the oil and gas activities can continue being retained in the economy.
Early this year, the country’s oil and gas projects received a green light from the developers when the Final Investment Decision for the Tilenga, Kingfisher and EACOP was announced.
Minister said whereas the Oil and Gas sector is highly specialized, Uganda’s approach is to build the capacity of Uganda’s personnel, enterprises to benefit from the sector.
She emphasized that government is committed to support participation of Ugandans through various capacity building, offer specialized training to human resource and creating employment.
Minister Nankabirwa further encouraged Ugandan business enterprises to embrace every opportunity presented by the Oil and Gas sector and build capacity.
Ernest Rubondo, the Executive Director of the Petroleum Authority of Uganda said that Investment in the country’s oil and gas sector has grown from 180 million US dollars in 2020 to 500 million USD in 2021 and is projected to grow to 3billion US dollars this year.
He added that the value of contracts to be awarded to Ugandan companies during this year 2022 is projected to be in over a billion US dollars, five times than last year’s value.
The project also aims at ensuring effective competitiveness of domestic enterprises as suppliers and joint venture partners by encouraging use of locally produced goods.
