Kampala, (UG):- In line with the common saying that if you want to go far, you go with others, the development of Uganda’s oil and gas sector needs to go hand in hand with the other sectors of the economy so that it goes far, especially in achieving the desired goal of using the Country’s oil and gas resources to create lasting value for society, Mr. Ernest Rubondo, the Executive Director of Petroleum Authority Uganda (PAU) has said.
Mr Rubondo made the remarks during the first sectoral Linkages in Kampala, Uganda at Speke Resort Munyonyo, between the 11th – 12th of April, 2024 under the theme, “Linkages: Leveraging Uganda’s oil and gas sector to enhance broad-based economic growth and development”.
The goal of the conference is to promote investment in the opportunities arising from the Linkages between the oil and gas sector and other economic sectors.
The development follows the announcement of the Final Investment Decision on 1st February 2022, where over USD 15 billion is expected to be invested in the sector in the next three to five years.
The unveiling of the investment opportunities follows studies carried out by the Authority to identify areas where other sectors of Uganda’s economy such as Health, Tourism, Finance and Agriculture can benefit.
Prof. Pamella K. Mbabazi, the Executive Chair of the National Planning Authority (NPA), who was the Chief guest at the Conference, commended PAU for carrying out the studies. She called on other Ministries, Departments and Agencies to carry out research studies on the opportunities their areas of work present, noting that this is how all areas of Uganda’s economy can grow at same rate.
On her part Ms. Irene Bateebe, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, stressed that these sectoral linkages would indeed contribute to the diversification of the economy. They would also ensure that the infrastructure set up for the oil and gas projects is sustained over the long term during the decline of activities in the oil and gas sector.
“Several Countries including the UAE and Norway among otgers leveraged the oil and gas sector to develop their sectors”, she noted.
In her keynote speech, Dr Valerie Marcel, Executive Director and founder of New Products for Sustainable Energy shared some of the risks and opportunities from other Countries such as Ghana, Guyana and Ecuador. She noted the risks new oil and gas producers not produce.
“The risks have mainly arisen from growing conservations on energy transition and climate change,” she said, before stressing that despite these risks, the opportunities for new oil and gas producers to develop their economies while learning from the mistakes of older producers are great.
It is therefore important to create linkages between the oil and gas sector and other sectors of the economy to maximise and ensure broad-based economic growth and development.
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