Residents block oil workers from land

Key area. Part of oil-rich Buliisa which residents blocked oil workers (in set) from utilising. Courtesy photo

What you need to know:

  • Process: The Central Processing Facility separates crude oil from impurities such as sand, soil, water and gas. After the initial processing, the crude is stabilised and fed into a refinery, an oil pipeline or containers. Uganda has chosen to refine some oil and export the crude to the international market.
  • Potential: Buliisa District has more than 26 oil wells, with oil experts having confirmed 6.5 billion barrels of oil from the 40 per cent of the area so far explored in the Albertine Graben. Uganda plans to kick off commercial oil production in 2020.

Buliisa. At least 800 project affected people in oil-rich Buliisa District have blocked oil workers from utilising their land before they are fully compensated by the government.

Officials of Total E&P Uganda had on Tuesday travelled to Kasenyi Village in Ngwedo Sub-county to conduct studies on a piece of land that has been proposed to host an oil central processing facility intended to separate crude oil from impurities such as sand, soil, water and gas.

After the initial processing, the crude is to be stabilised and fed into a refinery, an oil pipeline or containers.
“The residents protested the delayed compensation and stopped Total E&P officials from entering their land,” Mr Gilbert Kaliisa, the LC3 chairperson, said.

He said residents erected a poster on the land indicating a deadline of December 5 for the government to compensate them before any oil company can access their land.

The 817 project affected persons (PAPs) have a choice to either receive cash compensation or being resettled, with the Chief Government Valuer having set an acre of land in the area to be compensated at Shs2.1 million, but the PAPs want Shs21m per acre.
Total E&P Uganda workers and contractors have been collecting soil samples from the site to assess its suitability in hosting the planned facilities during commercial oil production, expected to kick off in 2020.

As tempers flared yesterday, eye witnesses said the Total E&P workers quickly retreated from the land, but the company’s community liaison officers, security officers, and other government officers stayed on for an on-spot crisis meeting with the residents.

Ms Gloria Sebikari, a senior communication officer at the petroleum directorate, confirmed that teams comprising government and Total E&P officials are engaging with the PAPs to hear their grievances. But Mr Gerald Mulimba, the chairperson of the Resettlement Planning Committee, said the PAPs have vowed that no further oil-related activities will be conducted on their land until they are fully compensated or resettled.

Solution
“The Petroleum Regulatory Authority is expediting the approval of the Resettlement Action Plan to enable Total E&P to make disclosures so that the residents know their entitlements,” Mr Sebikari said.

Mr Allan Kalangi, a sustainability manager with the National Association of Professional Environmentalists, an environmental advocacy body, urged the residents to remain calm but asked government and the oil companies to create a clear road map for compensation and resettlement packages so that people stop living in suspicion and anxiety.

“The government should expedite its processes [of compensation] so that communities are updated regularly and are not left in an information blackout,” Mr Kalangi said.
Early this year, the government, Total E&P Uganda, and Tullow Uganda Operations Pty Ltd completed assessment of properties in Kasenyi, Kisomere, Uduk II, Kibambura, Mvule, Ajigo, Kirama, Kigwera north East,Kigwera south East and Bikongoro villages, which have been proposed to host the central processing facility.

The Resettlement Action Plan indicates that government and the oil companies had set May 16 this year as a cut-off date beyond which no new developments in the area will be considered during compensation for land earmarked for the proposed industrial area that is estimated to cover 310 hectares.
The industrial area will host the oil central processing facility, access roads and a base camp during petroleum development activities.

Nearly 10 years ago, Uganda discovered 6.4 billion barrels of commercial quantities of oil in the Albertine Graben mostly in the districts of Hoima and Buliisa in the Albertine Graben.