Experts in the oil and gas sector have said that delay to make the final investment decision has enabled the country to build local capacity to transform the industry from scratch.
These remarks were made during Uganda’s Oil Symposium 2020 that featured on NBS television on Thursday.
Kiryowa Kiwanuka, a board member of Petroleum Authority Uganda, said it is okay for Uganda to take as much time as it can to produce oil and gas because it gives it a enough room for negotiations.
“We are negotiating and there is so much money involved. Money that we haven’t had in this country. Understand that a mistake we make now may affect us in future,” he said.
He noted that government and the private sector have been in position to build capacity in the oil and gas sector.
Kiwanuka said Uganda has one of the most robust structures in the world in the management of the oil and gas sector and all countries in the world that deal with oil and gas are changing to this structure.
The Uganda National Oil Company commercial manager, Daniel Muwooya, pointed out the potential benefits of the oil and gas sector which include; improved government revenues, value addition via the refinery, and value addition via petrochemical and fertiliser industries.
“The oil and gas sector also has a potential contribution to the economy through; job creation, induced growth in agriculture, tourism and human capital development across all sectors,”he said.
Makerere University Vice chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe said that the institution will provide research for the sector for better decision making.
“When it comes to oil and gas, we started programmes that are related to the sector as soon as the first announcement that Uganda would be exploiting oil was made.We have many students and staff being trained at the China University of Oil. We believe that oil and gas once exploited will be a stimulus for our economic development,”he said.
