The prospect of a ready market for fresh produce in the oil camps is motivating farmers in Hoima District to start up horticultural projects.

Some of them have abandoned the previously lucrative rice growing and are now venturing into planting tomatoes, cabbages, green pepper, carrots and other vegetables. Read More

Historically dominated by ‘oilmen’ – tough guys in hard hats and hard-bargaining male executives – the oil industry is slowly following other business sectors in opening its doors to women.  Uganda is no exception, as is shown here by profiles of three women who are rising fast in highly technical positions. 

For this to become a trend, however, Uganda will need to perform better in senior school science. According to the National Examinations Board, sciences were a weak area in last year’s A-level results and the number of girls taking sciences actually dropped. Read More

Hon. Elly Karuhanga speaking at the summit (Photo: FN)

A section of Uganda’s business community has criticised a local content provision in the recently enacted Petroleum Exploration Development and Production Act 2013, that allows local businessmen to enter joint ventures with international firms servicing the oil and gas industry.  Read More

Delegates at the COMESA Oil and Gas Summit in Kampala. Front row (L-R): Uganda’s junior Economic Monitoring Minister, Henry Banyenzaki; Tullow Uganda President, Elly Karuhanga; and Uganda Industrial Research Institute Head, Dr. Charles Kwesiga. Fifth right is Norwegian Ambassador, Thorbjorn Gaustadsaether.

The COMESA Oil and Gas Summit opened in Kampala today, with speakers calling on the government and oil companies to recruit more Ugandans in the oil and gas industry, but also eradicate corruption. Read More

Joan Namukasa, a Tullow Oil Uganda drilling engineer, reviews technical reports with colleagues at a rig site (Photo: Tullow Oil Uganda)

It takes years of advanced, on-the-job training to qualify as an oil well drilling engineer—but three Ugandan women are staying the course, writes Cathy Adengo. Read More

Rhino Camp residents are eager for information about oil

OYO VILLAGE, RHINO CAMP SUB-COUNTY, ARUA DISTRICT:  Three years ago, Neptune Petroleum drilled the 780 metre deep Avivi-1 exploration well on the outskirts of this village, in search of oil.  The well did not find any.  This was the second disappointment for Neptune, which held the exploration licence for the Rhino Camp basin, and had already sunk a dry well, Iti-1, in nearby Rigbo sub-county. After a third well, drilled last year, also proved dry, the company’s licence ran out, leaving it with nothing to show for an estimated US$ 50 million spent on the exploration effort. Read More

Tullow Oil Uganda’s General Manager, Jimmy Mugerwa. Many Ugandans are going overseas to obtain qualifications to compete for jobs like his.

With Uganda continuing to discover more oil and slowly moving towards oil production, many top jobs in the industry will be up for grabs.

But who is going to take up these top posts considering that few Ugandans have the qualifications needed? With an eye to future opportunities, forward-looking Ugandans have been applying to internationally recognized universities for further studies.

In Uganda, three higher education institutions—Makerere, Nkumba, and Uganda Christian University (UCU)—now offer petroleum-related studies at some level. UCU has begun with optional courses for students studying other subjects, while Nkumba is offering a two-year diploma course and a three-year Bachleor’s degree. Makerere, ranked ninth in Africa, has key departments in Geology and Petroleum Studies and will this year offer, for the first time, a Masters degree in Petroleum Geosciences. Read More

One stone at a time: the first, laid by President Museveni, paves the way for great aspirations

KIGUMBA, KIRYANDONGO DISTRICT:A foundation stone  laid last October by President  Museveni on a 200 acre plot, about four kilometres outside Kigumba town,  is all there is so far to mark a permanent home for the Uganda Petroleum Institute, Kigumba.

But construction is going on nearby, with several sturdy blocks of temporary classrooms, dormitories and laboratories already complete, and expected to be ready for a new intake of students in March of this year. Read More

The oldest building at the UCU campus. The university is looking to the future with new oil courses.

Uganda Christian University, one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious higher education institutions, is seeking to develop petroleum management expertise through an Oil and Gas Leadership Institute which is expected to evolve into a fully fledged department. Established in 2010 and currently housed within the university’s School of Research and Postgraduate Studies, the institute is the product of a visit to the University of Queensland in Australia in 2009.

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For this young man, a bird on the shoulder is worth more than a barrel of oil in the bush (Photo: NY)

The Oil in Uganda team extends warm, seasonal greetings to all our readers.  Also, to entertain you in between bouts of feasting, we have prepared a little quiz to test your general knowledge of oil  in Uganda and beyond.  Doing the quiz won’t, alas, make you a millionaire, but you may glean some interesting–and some shocking–facts. The answers to the following twenty questions appear at the end of the text—together with a ‘performance assessment’ depending on how many questions you answered correctly. Read More