Parliament of Uganda

The President of Tullow Oil’s Ugandan subsidiary, Hon. Elly Karuhanga had no kind words for parliament over a local content provision in the recently enacted Petroleum Exploration Development and Production Act 2013 that allows local businessmen to enter joint ventures with international firms servicing the oil and gas industry.

The section of the Act in the spotlight is S. 125 of the Act which states thus “Where the goods and services required by the contractor or licensee are not available in Uganda, they shall be provided by a company which has entered into a joint venture with a Ugandan company provided that the Ugandan company has a share capital of at least forty eight percent in the joint venture.”

While addressing a COMESA Oil and Gas Summit in Kampala last week, Karuhanga described the provision as unrealistic, despite its good intentions. “If they (Parliamentarians) had used their brains, they would have known that we do not have such capacity and we need to train these people,” he told the delegates. Here is the story as reported elsewhere 48% local ownership of service companies unrealistic, says Tullow Boss