By Juma Nsubuga
The minister of energy and mineral development Dr Ruth Nankabirwa has signed a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with Uganda National Oil Company Limited (UNOC) and issuance of petroleum exploration license for the Kasuruban area.
The signing ceremony was held at the ministry headquarters in Kampala.
Nankabirwa applauded the people of Uganda for achieving an important milestone.
“Signing of this production sharing agreements for petroleum exploration, development and production between Uganda government and Uganda National Oil Company(UNOC) for Kasuruban contract area marks a significant achievement of Uganda’s competitive second licensing round for the Oil and Gas sector” she said.
She said the agreements show government’s commitment to fulfill the objectives and principles of Uganda’s National Oil and Gas policy that provides for the efficiency in licensing through open competitive bidding rounds.
“The Petroleum Exploration License awarded to UNOC in the Kasuruban block is in accordance with section 58 of the petroleum Act 2013. This license marks a significant millstone for the competitive second Lincensing round which was announced in May 2019 in Mombasa Kenya”. She said.
Nankabirwa said the signing of the production sharing of Kasuruban was cleared by cabinet, ministry of Finance together with the ministry of Justice and constitutional Affairs.
Meanwhile, energy ministry permanent secretary Irene Bateebe also said that following the the enactment of the required policy, legal and regulatory frameworks for the Oil and Gas sector in Uganda, government decided to implement open, transparent and competitive licensing rounds as required by the petroleum exploration, development and production Act 2013.
“Two of four qualified companies participated and submitted bids. At the end of bidding stage, UNOC won” she added
The Chief Executive Officer of Uganda National Oil Company Limited (UNOC) that has been awarded a 2year contract Proscovia Nabbanja says that UNOC has a cardinal role to play in the upstream value chain to ensure sustainable utilization of petroleum resources in Uganda.
“UNOC also has a mandate to develop in depth expertise in Oil and Gas industry. In order to achieve this mandate, UNOC has a strategic goal of becoming an independent operator in the long term”she said.
Nabbanja further conveyed her company’s (UNOC) gratitude to Uganda government for the positive consideration of the application for a petroleum explanation license of Kasuruban block.
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