The Executive Director of The Petroleum Authority of Uganda Ernest Rubondo urged Ugandan local service providers to take up opportunities in oil explorations set to start in the country soonest.

Speaking at a dinner organised by Oil and Gas service providers in Kampala, Rubondo said the new oil exploration works presents opportunities worth trillions of shillings for the local content providers.

“We are blessed as a country and the local content service providers have been able to get a return on their investment because collectively. We have 21 oil and gas fields discovered in Uganda. Out of these, 15 of them have production licences, meaning for about 15 oil fields in Uganda, development is going to begin,” he said

Rubondo said Uganda expects to “drill more than 500 wells in three years,”

Vice chairperson of the Association of Uganda Oil and Gas Providers (AUGOS) Denis Kamurasi, said service providers were excited about the recent issuance of oil production licences to operators Total and Tullow.

Uganda Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development issued eight oil production licences both companies joining their Chinese partner China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC) which received its production licence in September 2013.

The Licences demand that Oil companies invest over $8 billion in infrastructure required for oil production. The lead infrastructure according to a ministerial statement include drilling about 500 wells, construction of processing facilities and feeder pipelines among others.

Daily Monitor Newspaper reported that during the exploration phase of the wells yet to be produced, there were more than 1,000 service providers and the total amount they got over that period was 28 per cent of the total cost.

However, to benefit from this sector, Kamurasi said Ugandans have to be trained to be able to carry out these tasks at hand. The local service providers have been undergoing training to get the required qualifications during the lag.

Credit: Daily Monitor