Shs20b to be invested in oil development stage - government
Overs $3b was injected in the oil sector during the exploration phase to promote investment in a sector that has estimated capacity of 6.5 billion barrels of petroleum resources. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- The dialogue, according to Ms Deborah Malac, the US ambassador to Uganda comes at an opportune time to reflect on the country’s future and profound experience with the oil industry as the cost of mismanagement can be a powerful driver of corruption and unrest.
Kampala. At least Shs20b is expected to be invested in the development stage of oil extraction, a government minister has said.
Speaking during a multi-stakeholder dialogue on transparency and accountability in Uganda’s extractive sector, Mr Peter Lokeris, the Energy state minister, said there are currently nine production licences to the three joint venture partners namely; Total, CNOOC and Tullow.
“In addition, government is committed to ensuring transparency in the sector and efforts have been put in place to ensure efficient state management of the oil and gas industry is under pinned by a legal and education framework not only for efficient issues management but also efficient revenue management,” he said.
The money, Mr Lokeris said, will be spent on construction of oil wells given that national authorities and legislations for revenue management such as National Oil and Gas Policy of 2008, Revenue Management Policy of 2012 and Petroleum Exploration and Development Act of 2013, among others have been updated.
Overs $3b was injected in the oil sector during the exploration phase to promote investment in a sector that has estimated capacity of 6.5 billion barrels of petroleum resources.
Dr Elly Karuhanga, the Chamber of Mines and Petroleum chairman, said existing laws must be put in practice to achieve efficient management of oil and other resources such as natural gas, cobalt, iron ore and vermiculite to add value to the economy.
“Uganda will be seeing about $20b coming into our economy. So what is worrying us is such an amount of money coming in Uganda the next three or five years; how will it be managed?” he said.
Time to reflect
The dialogue, according to Ms Deborah Malac, the US ambassador to Uganda comes at an opportune time to reflect on the country’s future and profound experience with the oil industry as the cost of mismanagement can be a powerful driver of corruption and unrest.
