Peter Muliisa, the Chief Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer at UNOC
The Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) has said the country’s target is to retain 40% of US$12 billion (Shs44.9 trillion) investment in the oil and gas sector.
In February 2022, the country announced the Final Investment Decision (FID).
With this, US$ 8 billion is gazetted for executing the upstream (Tilenga and Kingfisher) while US$ 4 billion was earmarked for the construction of the crude oil pipeline.
To date, Uganda has invested US$ 7.1 billion in the upstream.
According to Peter Muliisa, the Chief Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer at UNOC, about US$1.7 billion has been absorbed by Ugandans.
“That’s a good number to deal with,” he said.
Muliisa was appearing on NTV Uganda’s On The Spot program last Thursday.
“That money (US$ 12 billion) began to be spent in February 2022 and we continue to spend it,” he said.
“We have finalized (drilling/spadding)three wells (in Kingfisher) and we should be able to continue drilling through this year and most of next year,” he said about the progress of the project.
According to Muliisa, during the exploration phase, “we were only able to retain 28% of the money that was invested.”
“What was invested then was about 3.2 billion dollars. Our target in this phase is 40%. The national content law is structured to enable the attainment of that 40%. That’s why we have priority for Ugandans in particular areas,” he explained.
Muliisa says that in the last 5 years, the Company has trained and certified for international standards.
“We have enough manpower now,” he assured the country.
These are in the areas of food, medical, insurance, finance, etc.
Tony Otoa, the Chief Executive, Stanbic Business Incubator Program, said that there is a lot that Ugandans can partake from the project. However, he said that at this stage, the executions are too technical for many Ugandan companies.
“What are we providing to make a retention?” he asked.
Otoa raised a concern about the work ethic of a typical Ugandan company.
“The oil and gas sector does not know a public holiday, weekend, funeral, or wedding,” he said.
He also called for compliance on the side of Ugandan companies so as to ensure standard.
2025 a technical and not political target – UNOC
Asked if the 2025 target for the first oil to flow is a political or a technical target, Muliisa explained that “2025 is the target.”
“We have 3 rigs that are drilling currently. We have a 4th rig that is being assembled. Now, at this point its science because you know how long it is going to take to drill 900 feet into the ground, how long its going to take to drill 3000 feet and we know how many wells we need to start producing. We have finished the acquisition of land nearly for the construction of the crude oil pipeline. We are at 88% in Uganda and 99% in Tanzania. We have ordered for line pipes. We are constructing the coating plant, the terminal is under construction. So, we are sure. We know how long it will take to lay the pipes. How long it will take to transport the pipes. So, 2025 is achievable technically,” Muliisa said.
