The Uganda National Oil Company (UNOC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ms Proscovia Nabbanja, has said the government has put in place a robust policy, institutional, legal monitoring and compliance enforcement framework to ensure that oil and gas activities co-exist with the environment and social wellbeing of communities in areas where oil and gas activities are being undertaken and the country as a whole.
Speaking at the launch of the third edition of the 90 Days of Oil and Gas Media Campaign, the CEO said major oil and gas projects have already been undertaken and completed during the exploration and appraisal phases.
She said Tilenga project facilities in Murchison Falls National Park in Buliisa and Nwoya districts have been designed in a manner that will have negligible impact to tourism and wildlife.
“We are together with our partners TotalEnergies and CNOOC in the development of Tilenga and Kingfisher where we hold 15% participating interest. Crude oil pipeline will be buried and equipped with leak detectors and valves to automatically shut down the pipeline in case of damage or abnormalities,” Ms Nabbanja said.
Adding: “The water that comes out with oil during production will be injected back into the oil wells. This will greatly reduce the amount of freshwater abstraction by over 90% and also avoid the huge volumes of wastewater requiring treatment and discharge into the environment. No flaring or venting of oil or gas will be permitted during normal operations. Overall, the projects fall within the category of “low emission’.”
Mr Humprey Asiimwe, the CEO Uganda Chamber of Mines and Petroleum (UCMP), said as the oil and gas sector development phase gains momentum, the campaign is designed to run on weekly topics including opportunities and challenges, updates on sector projects, taxation, insurance, sectoral linkages social and governance issues, environment, women and youth, local content and value addition, the role of the media, financing of the oil and gas sector and the role of civil society organisations and more.
The campaign that started on August 1st will climax on October 31 with intent to see improved reporting and dissemination to spur sector growth.
“We are offering an opportunity to oil and gas sector reporters to get fast hand and accurate information as they tell their stories. We also want to offer space for sector players to interact, network and share opportunities for growing their enterprises and the sector as a whole,” Mr Asiimwe said.
He said there are planned media engagements in the form of press conferences, news articles, exclusive/one-one-one interviews and events where reporters can cover and get on top of the oil and gas sector story.
