Uganda’s oil and gas sector attracts $7.5 billion in investments

KAMPALA, UGANDA — The cumulative investments in Uganda’s oil and gas sector have reached over $7.5 billion as of the end of 2023, according to the Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU).

Peninah Aheebwa, the Director of Economic and National Content Monitoring at PAU, revealed that companies have spent or are spending $2.9 billion in 2024, with an expected expenditure of around $2.3 billion.

“We still expect an expenditure of around $2.3 billion. Again, we expect significant expenditure during operation,” Aheebwa said.

The authority expects up to $15 billion in capital expenditure on the projects during the development and production stages of the sector. The projects include the Tilenga, EACOP, and Kingfisher projects, which are expected to cost between $4-5 billion, $5 billion, and $3-5 billion, respectively.

The PAU has approved around 64 joint ventures, with 35 of them securing work in the sector worth around $300 million. Aheebwa encouraged Ugandan companies to consider entering joint ventures with local or international companies to take up contracts or subcontracts in the sector.

“So to date, we have approved around 64 joint ventures. And 35 of these have been able to secure work in the sector with a value of around $300 million,” Aheebwa revealed.

Aheebwa also emphasized the importance of joint ventures in transferring knowledge and technology to Ugandan companies. “We need to do a little bit more because I know that Nigerian companies are going into exploration. And a good number of them are operators and they are managing marginal fields. So I think we need to embrace joint ventures,” she suggested.

The oil and gas sector has created over 15,000 direct jobs, with 90% of them occupied by Ugandans. The sector has also created an estimated 34,000 indirect jobs and over 100,000 induced jobs.

“Out of those direct jobs, in our computations we know every direct job produces around 2.3 times indirect jobs and around three times induced jobs. So out of the 1,500 jobs that have been created, we think the industry has also created 34,000 indirect jobs,” Aheebwa said.

In preparation for the operations phase, Aheebwa revealed that oil and gas companies are undertaking massive open online courses or training, including the Tilenga Academy and the EACOP Academy in Uganda and Tanzania.