Uganda govt to build capacity of local companies to benefit from oil and gas sector

Government is committed to building the capacity of Ugandan companies to ensure they benefit from the oil and gas sector.

According to Minister of State for Investment Evelyn Anite Government established the National Local Content Fund to ensure more training for Ugandan companies and that 16 fields have already been ring-fenced for local content.

“To ensure that Ugandan entities also benefit from these direct and indirect opportunities, Government has ring fenced over 16 fields for local domestic investors,” Anite said.

She was speaking on Tuesday as Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) awarded the Joint Venture Partners for their contribution towards the signing of the Final Investment Decision (FID) at the beginning of February 2022.

The UIA Director-General, Robert Mukiza, said that through their domestic investment division, his team is already working in building the capacity of the local firms to leverage the opportunities in the sector.

“This is a major milestone that will see us attract the single largest investment (approximately 10-15 US$ billion) ever, into the country. Consequently, we thought it prudent to recognize some of the key players in this oil and gas journey, in line with our mandate of promoting, attracting, advocating, facilitating, registering, monitoring and evaluating all forms of investment in Uganda,” said Mukiza.

Six partners of the FID, including Uganda National Oil Corporation, Total Energies EP Uganda, CNOOC, Tanzania National Offshore Oil Company and Ministry of Energy, were awarded yesterday by the Uganda Investment Authority UIA.

“The purpose of this event is to recognize H.E the President and our Joint Venture Partners, who made a significant contribution to the signing of the Final Investment Decision on 01st February 2022,” she said.

Dr Mukiza said that the award was aimed at recognizing some of the key players in the sector’s journey, in line with “our mandate of promoting, attracting, advocating, facilitating, registering, monitoring and evaluating all forms of investment in Uganda”.